UNI

Bangalore, Aug 11: A grim flood situation starked the Cauvery and Krishna river basins in Karnataka as the renewed Southwest monsoon left a trail of devastation with 242 people killed and property worth Rs 4,000 crore damaged, forcing the State government seeking an immediate relief of Rs 500 crore from the centre.

Swollen rivers Cauvery and the Krishna and their tributaries swallowed agricultural lands along their course. A cropped area of 84,000 acres were devastateded by the floods, while more than 8700 cattle had perished.

  
"As many as 36 people have died during the last one week," chief minsiter H D Kumaraswamy told newsmen here on Friday after reviewing the flood situation. Normal life was thrown out of gear in 13 districts in coastal, ghat and northern regions of the state.

The heavy rain coupled with huge discharges from Maharashtra into Krishna river and its tributaries, had caused widespread damages in North Karnataka districts, including Belgaum, Bijapur, Bagalkot and Bellary.

Kumaraswamy said, ''We have not received any relief so far from the Centre. I would be speaking to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over telephone to seek immediate relief today.''

The state government has so far released Rs 50 crore for relief work and Kumaraswamy asked the District Commissioners to spend Rs 150 crore, which was at their disposal for relief work.

While deputy chief minister B S Yediyurappa had already embarked on aerial survey of the affected districts since yesterday, the Chief Minister would be doing so from tomorrow. Meanwhile, the local meteorological centre had forecast that heavy to very heavy rains were likely to lash coastal areas again during the next 48 hours.

Huge volume of water was let out of major reservoirs both in Krishna and Cauvery basins causing concern in down stream Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Over 2.52 lakh cusecs of water was flowing out of Alamatti reservoir across Krishna and from downstream Narayanapur dam the outflow was at 2.56 lakh cusecs into downstream Jurala dam in AP. Tungabhadra, the main tributary of Krishna was also in spate with over two lakh cusecs being discharged from the reservoir in Raichur. The Inflow into Krishna from upstream Maharashtra was over two lakh cusecs at the gauging point in Belgaum district.

A report from Gulbarga said the flood situation in Krishna and Bheema was grim with many villages marooned along the banks of the two rivers. Inflow into Bheema reservoir stood at 42,000 cusecs this morning and it was likely to go up to one lakh cusecs by tonight, officials warned.

A Mysore report said heavy downpour continued in Cauvery catchment areas in Kodagu district where it takes birth. Landslips continued to occur in the hilly district while Bhagamandala continued to be cut off from remaining parts of the district.

District authorities had extended the holiday declared for schools for another two days. Areas like Karadigodu, Nellihundikeri, Betri were also inundated.

The K R Sagar reservoir across Cauvery in Mandya district had reached its full level and 60,000 cusecs of water was being let out.

Its tributary Kabini also continues to be in spate and more than 94,000 cusecs of water was racing towards Tamil Nadu from the reservoirs across the two rivers.

In Mysore and Mandya districts several places were inundated by Cauvery and authorities had warned people living along the course of the river to move to safer places.

Hassan district also continues to suffer due to torrential rains as normal life was badly disrupted. Hemavathi, a tributary of Cauvery, continues to be in spate and more than 47,000 cusecs of water was being released from the reservoir near Holenarasipura.