Heavy rains in Kodagu has inundated many parts of the district, forcing authorities to shut schools and colleges on Thursday.
“All schools and colleges in the district have been asked to stay closed today,” Nanjunde Gowda, the Assistant Commissioner of Madikeri confirmed to TNM.
Parts of the district bordering Kerala have received heavy rain since Tuesday night, which triggered landslides in hilly areas including the Madikeri-Mangaluru highway (NH 275).
With fears of the highway collapsing, vehicles weighing over 16,200 kg have been barred from plying on the highway with the exception of vehicles carrying milk, fuel and cooking gas.
Kerala has been receiving heavy rainfall for the past two weeks. At present, many parts of the state have been affected by flooding and landslides. According to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, 20 persons have lost their lives in the last 24 hours.
Low-lying areas in Kodagu have reportedly been flooded, houses have reportedly been crumbling, and there has been damage to property. There have been no reported injuries or loss of life at the time of writing.
The Daily Rainfall Report by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) stated the whole district received “very heavy rainfall”. 87.3mm rainfall was recorded in Madikeri taluk, a 160% jump from the normal 33mm rainfall it receives. The situation was similar in Somwarpet taluk, which received 71mm rainfall, a 286% jump from the normal rainfall of 18.4mm. Virajpet taluk received 51mm rainfall, a 310% jump from the 12.5mm rainfall it usually receives. Normal rainfall is the average rainfall received by the station on that particular day in the last thirty years.
The rains, which after a gap of close to two weeks in Kodagu, resulted in flooding of rivers in the district. Heavy rains were also reported in Chikkamagaluru and Hassan.
"North of Odisha in the Bay of Bengal, there was a low pressure that developed two days ago, and it became a depression. Due to that from the west coast, we are getting strong westerly winds. This is the same reason Kerala is experiencing heavy rainfall," explains Sunil Gavaskar, a meteorologist at the KSNDMC.