The heavy rains that lashed several parts of north Karnataka over the last two days has displaced hundreds of people. The incessant rains in six northern districts – Belagavi, Uttara Kannada, Bagalakote, Yadgir, Raichur and Vijayapura – have resulted in homes being inundated with water.
According to the Central Relief Commission, around 8,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in Belagavi district alone. Of these, 3,132 people have been shifted to relief camps. The remaining are yet to be rescued as crucial roads have been blocked due to the flooding. Relief camps have been set up in Belagavi, Uttara Kannada, Bagalakote and Raichur districts.
“There are 53 relief camps in Belagavi, Bagalakote, Uttara Kannada and Raichur. There is only one in Raichur’s Yeragodi village, where 181 people who were stranded atop a hill were rescued by the State Disaster Relief Force Team. In Bagalakote, 3,850 people have been affected; of them only 1,045 have been evacuated. The rest are awaiting help from the Maratha Light Infantry team deployed there,” an official with the Central Relief Commission told TNM.
Relief camps are currently being set up in Vijayapura, Yadgir and Raichur districts, where the rescued persons are being transferred. Currently, seven NDRF teams with 30 personnel in each team, five SDRF teams with 66 personnel in each team, five Maratha Light Infantry teams with 60 Indian Army personnel in each team, and over 600 Fire and Emergency Service personnel have been deployed for the rescue operations.
A peepal tree fell on the Netravathi Express at 5.30 am on Tuesday in Udupi. Rescue personnel removed the fallen tree and train operations continued without any injuries reported. In Udupi, several villages in Kundapur were flooded due to heavy rains.
The Indian Meteorological Department has issued 48-hour red warnings in six districts including Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada, Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga, Kodagu and Udupi districts; orange warnings have been issued in Belagavi, Hassan and Haveri; and yellow alert has been issued in Dharwad and Kalaburgi. The IMD states that rain may recede in Bagalakote, Yadgir, Raichur and Vijayapura in the next 48 hours.
A red warning means extremely heavy rainfall, an orange warning indicates very heavy rainfall and a yellow warning indicates heavy rainfall.