Heavy rains, floods and resultant damage to road and rail infrastructure across Kerala, coastal and Malnad Karnataka have resulted in a massive spike in the prices of air ticket to and from Bengaluru.
Bus services have completely been shut on m
Flights from Bengaluru to Mangaluru (via Hyderabad) cost over Rs 8,000 for Thursday night with no direct flights available at 3:30 pm on popular ticket booking site. There are no flights available to Thiruvananthapuram for Thursday evening and flights on Friday morning cost over Rs 7,000 in the light of the Kochi airport being shut till August 18.
Meanwhile, Vistara Airlines announced that they have capped prices of economy class tickets to Trivandrum from Delhi and Chennai at Rs 10,000 and Rs 7,000 respectively.
Re-post: We are operating special flights to Trivandrum in view of Kochi airport closure. Flights will operate from Delhi and Chennai. Economy Class fares will be capped at Rs 10k/7.5k respectively one way. We don’t normally operate to TRV,and have made special arrangements. pic.twitter.com/MUTrj0FX1b
— Vistara (@airvistara) August 16, 2018
There are also reports of multiple passengers of international flights, especially those arriving from Gulf countries wishing to travel to Kerala, who are now stranded at Bengaluru airport.
Latha, the Public Relation Officer at the Karnataka State Transport Corporation, said, “All services towards Kerala, except Palakkad sector, are not functioning. Premium services from Bengaluru to Mangaluru and other coastal areas have also been stopped. Only express services are running through Charmadi Ghat.”
Similarly, train services were hit as landslides blocked rail tracks in Sakleshpur and Subramanya Road. Train services between Bengaluru to Kannur (Karwar Express, Bengaluru Express), were diverted to Tirupattur, Palakkad and Shoranur.
Meanwhile, train services from Yeshwanatapur to
The rains, which had started earlier this week, have led to the loss of life. Deaths have been reported from Kodagu, Udupi, Shivamogga, Hassan, and Kalaburagi districts.
The Cauvery river, which is in full spate, has been flowing over the high flood level in many areas in the Cauvery basin area.
At 6 am on Thursday, an advisory by the Central Water Commission warned that more than 2.1 lakh cusecs of water are being released from Kabini and Krishna Raja Sagara Dam.
In all the affected places, flood relief centres have been opened up and are being overseen by respective tehsildars.
Highways have been blocked at some places while roads have caved in Ghat areas. As many as 654 houses in the state were damaged by the rains and 666 people have been evacuated so far till Thursday morning.
In Kodagu, which is the worst hit districts of the state, schools and all educational institutions have been shut down. The DC has also warned visitors not to visit the district.