MANGALURU: With western ghats receiving copious rainfall in the last 24 hours, the water levels in Dakshina Kannada rivers are nearing danger level posing danger to people living on the riverbanks.
The levels of Nethravathi River at Bantwal was at 8meters, one metre shy of the danger level and that at Uppinangady was at 29.5 meters, with the danger level being 31.5 meters, resulting in streams and rivulets flowing full.
Three drowning deaths have been reported in Udupi. Rachana, 12 of Shedimane Village, Hebri taluk, drowned after she slipped and fell into a river near her house Sunday. On Monday, Gokuldas Prabhu a.k.a. Srinivas Prabhu, 53, of Karkunje Village, Brahmavara taluk, drowned after he fell into a stream. In yet another case, the body of a woman identified as Kurumbilu, 80, who was missing since July 11, was found in Annalu River on July 22. The deceased was a resident of Shirlalu Village, Karkala taluk. This has been classified as death related to rain by the District administration.
In Udupi district there has been widespread damage to property. The house of Bhoju Poojary at Padukudooru melmane, Varanga GP, was completely damaged after a tree fall. The District administration in its initial estimates put the damage to houses in excess of Rs 13 lakh.
SDRF team evacuating people from low lying areas of Kukke Subrahmanya, Dakshina Kannada district on Monday, to safer places.
The Dakshina Kannada and Udupi District administrations declared a holiday for anganwadis, schools and colleges on Tuesday, in view of the Red alert issued by the Met Department. For Monday, the DC had given powers to tehsildars to declare holiday for schools, colleges depending on the situation, and schools in colleges in vulnerable areas were given a holiday. Monsoon was active over the three coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts and IMD has issued a Red alert for the districts on Tuesday. DK received an average rainfall of 107mm, with Kadaba taluk receiving the highest at 163mm, followed by Moodbidri, Sullia, Belthangady and Bantwal taluks receiving more than 100mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours till Monday 8.30am. The damage to Mescom infrastructure was224 poles and 9.5km of supply lines in the last 24 hours.
Kodkani and Bilgi, both in Siddapur Taluk, Uttara Kannada District, received the highest rainfall in the state at 342mm and 235mm respectively. In DK district, Kombaru in Puttur Taluk received 220mm of rainfall.
The house of Bhoju Poojary at Padukudooru melmane, Varanga GP, in Udupi District, was completely damaged after a tree fall on Monday.
Monday’s rain created havoc in the district and threw normal life out of gear. There were mile-long queues at important junctions on NH and in the city due to slow moving traffic and bad roads. The traffic gridlock that started at 7.30am continued till evening.
The effects of the rain were particularly severe in Sullia taluk, especially Subrahmanya where students had to brave submerge roads while going to college to write examinations. SDRF personnel were deployed to shift people from flooded areas to safer places at Kukke Subrahmanya on Monday
India Meteorological Department has warned fishermen not to venture into the Sea stating that squally weather with wind speed reaching 40-45 kmph gusting to 55 kmph is likely to prevail along and off Karnataka Coast till July 28.
Meanwhile, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) issued a rough sea alert stating high waves in the range of 3.5 – 4.0 meters are predicted along the coast from Mangaluru to Karwar till Tuesday.
IMD predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall, with extremely heavy rainfall of more than 114 mm to 204 mm is likely to occur at isolated places over all the districts of Coastal Karnataka. There will also be thunderstorms with lightning, accompanied by gusty winds with wind speed reaching 40-50 Kmph in isolated places over all the coastal districts till July 28.
