Belagavi on high alert yet again as heavy rains batter Maharashtra

District authorities have taken precautionary measures and people have been warned to stay away from rivers and streams.
Belagavi on high alert yet again as heavy rains batter Maharashtra
Belagavi on high alert yet again as heavy rains batter Maharashtra

District authorities in northern Karnataka’s Belagavi, which was the worst hit during the recent floods, are on alert yet again. Out of the 88 dead in the state due to the floods, 24 were from Belagavi alone. The district also saw more than 28,000 houses damaged as well.

The high alert in Belagavi is a result of the heavy rainfall in neighbouring Maharashtra and the discharge of excess water from the state into the downstream areas and also due to rainfall locally.

The IMD has predicted heavy to heavy rainfall with likelihood of extremely heavy rainfall in the catchment of the Krishna river. There will be fairly widespread moderate rains in all of north interior Karnataka as well.

At the moment, no evacuation measures have been taken by the district authorities. Revenue department officials are also ready to set up relief camp if such a situation arises, district officials said.

Speaking to TNM, Belagavi SP Laxman Nimbaragi said, “The Krishna river belt is receiving about 1,70,000 cusecs of water right now. There will be flooding once the inflow crosses two lakh cusecs. Right now it depends on how much rainfall Maharashtra receives in the next 24 hours. We have already taken all precautionary measures. Everybody has been warned to stay away from rivers and streams.”

He added, “Police and panchayat officials have informed all the people at the grassroot levels. SDRF, NDRF and Fire department officials are stationed in strategic locations to counter any emergency if required. Ghataprabha and Malaprabha are also in spate.”

Officials at the Karnataka Disaster Monitoring Centre said that the situation is likely to continue to remain the same for the next 48 hours.

“Monsoon activity will reduce from Wednesday, not only in Maharashtra but also in Karnataka. We don’t expect the situation to be as bad as it was last month. We are expecting a maximum of 3 lakh cusecs of inflow. There won’t be further damage to crops or infrastructure as during the floods we had 6.5 lakh cusecs of inflow. District officials will take a call as and when to evacuate people. Rehabilitation and restoration works might get further hampered due to this,” KSNDMC Director GS Sreenivasa Reddy told TNM.

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