Incessant rains have continued in various parts of northern Karnataka and several villages in Belagavi, Bagalkot, Uttara Kannada, Raichur, Yadgir and Vijayapura were flooded.
In Belagavi, the Vedaganga river overflowed on Tuesday and surrounding villages were submerged. A high alert has been issued in the surrounding villages. According to Deputy Commissioner of Bommanahalli, the Yemagarani village, which is closest to the Vedaganga river, is waterlogged up to 10 ft above ground level. The bridge across the river, which is around 40 ft tall, was also submerged due to incessant rains. “We have cordoned off all areas within a 3 km radius of the river due to the floods,” he said.
Similarly, the Markandeya river also overflowed leading to floods in villages located in Athani and Gokak taluks. The rampant floods have resulted in over 150 acres of sugarcane plantations being submerged in Nidagundi and Muddebihal taluks.
Villages in Balagalkot flooded as Malaprabha river overflows
In the last 24 hours, villages surrounding the Krishna river basin were completely submerged because of the outflow of water from the Koyna and Rajapur barrages. According to DC Bommanahalli, the villages in Kallol and Chikkodi were submerged as an excess of 2.64 lakh cusecs of water was released from the barrages. Relief camps have been set up in Belagavi city, Chikkodi and Athani.
“The river has widened by at least 250 m. Chandoor, Mnjari, Ankali, Kallol and Examba villages have been flooded. Farmlands and cattle sheds have been destroyed. Homes are submerged in water and over 4,000 people have been shifted to relief camps. More than 15 bridges located across the rivers in Chikkodi and Nipani taluks have been submerged,” he said.
In Bagalkot’s Jamkhandi, the Ghataprabha and Malaprabha rivers, tributaries of river Kirshna have overflown. This has led to blockage of roads to and from the areas surrounding Ghataprabha and Malaprabha river basins. Traffic has come to a standstill along the Vijayapura-Dharwad state highway since Sunday night due to the incessant rains and landslides. Relief camps have been opened in schools located in Hirepadasalgi, Muttur and Alaguru.
Waterlogging along NH-4 in Belagavi due to rampant rains
The Krishna river basins in Raichur, Bijapur and Yadgir too are witnessing incessant flooding. Yadgir DC Sree Kumara Rao said that over 4 lakh cusecs of water had to be released from the Basava Sagar Dam as the reservoir had reached its maximum storage capacity. “21 of the 31 gates of Basava Sagar Dam were opened today (Tuesday). Over 3 lakh cusecs of water was released from Almatti Dam on Monday as well. This is the highest outflow we have seen in the last 10 years,” he said.
The situation is no different in Raichur’s Devadurg and Lingasugur taluks as 2.9 lakh cusecs of water was released has turned precarious after 2.91 lakh cusec was released downstream Krishna from the Narayanpur reservoir. Jaladurga, Yelagundi, Hanchinal, Yeragudi and Kadadaragaddi in Lingasugur have been submerged and cut off from Raichur district headquarters since Sunday as the roads have flooded too.