Mangalore: Rain batters coast, holiday for schools in Sullia, Puttur taluks
Pics: Arun Uppinangady
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, Jul 4: Malnad and coastal regions of Karnataka are getting heavy rainfall since the last some days, throwing normal life out of gear and taking away some lives. The threat of floods has been looming large in several parts, with two persons losing lives due to floods in Honnavar and Shimoga during the last 24 hours.
Rivers are overflowing, crops have been destroyed, roads have been damaged, and trees have fallen across the roads, in several places. Landslides and damage to bridges have also hit movement of vehicles hard.
As a precautionary measure, holiday has been declared for Thursday July 4 for schools functioning in Kodagu district, Sringeri and Koppa taluks of Chikmagalur district, as well as Puttur, Sullia, and Beltangady taluks in Dakshina Kannada district. Schools at most of these places had declared holiday on Wednesday afternoon too.
After Hosmath bridge near Subrahmanya between Uppinangady and Kadaba state highway got inundated on Thursday afternoon, traffic on this stretch was thrown out of gear. The bridge remained inundated till late evening. The water level at the confluence of Kumaradhara and Netravati rivers at Uppinangady is rising rapidly, nearing the danger mark on Wednesday. The water level had reached 24 metres as against the danger level of 26.5 metres because of the release of water from Nedle and Neerakatte hydel power project dams.
People living in places near rivers and isles in Kundapur taluk like Nada and Salbuda are being shifted to safer places, after the floods endangered their lives. The people along with their cattle and other belongings are being taken by boats to safe places.
On account of heavy rains, Matsyagandha and Netravati Express trains got stranded at Ratnagiri in Maharasthra, and moved about five to six hours behind schedule.
The meteorological department expects rain to retain intensity during the next two days.
A number of houses in the city and elsewhere were damaged due to falling trees. Landslides also inflicted damages to some buildings. Strong winds complicated the situation, giving rise to falling trees and electric poles and frequent power failure.
Kadra in Uttara Kannada district received highest rainfall of 36 cm. Many places in Kundapur taluk received over 25 cm of rain.
Puttur taluk too has been receiving heavy rains since Tuesday night. After the compound wall of an under-construction site near Tenkila Kamnaru Colony on the outskirts of the town collapsed, houses in the colony are facing danger. A well belonging to Damodar here suffered collapse, and his house too is facing danger now. As two houses are facing grave danger here, and 25 houses are fearful of losing the road which connects them with the main road, municipal chief officer and engineers rushed to the spot and evaluated the situation.