One death and Rs 87 lakh worth rain damage in Udupi district

UDUPI: The heavy rain and gales in the district from the past three days has resulted in one death and caused damage to the extent of approximately Rs 87.8 lakh, including houses and plantations. Mescom has incurred losses to the extent of Rs 40 lakh till date. As per weather reports, Uḍupi is likely to get heavy rainfall till Saturday, and the red alert status has been continued for the district. Schools and colleges have already declared holidays since the past two days (Wednesday and Thursday).
On Thursday, as a result of a mud wall of a cow shed collapsing, a woman died at Cherkady village, Brahmavar, Udupi. Ganga Marakalti,52, the wife of Koraga Marakala, reportedly died due to a wall collapsing on her, while she was milking a cow at 6.15 am. She got stuck under the collapsed wall. People were able to take her out from under the debris, however, she got seriously injured. Though she was immediately taken to a nearby hospital, the doctor declared her brought dead. The Brahmavar tahsildar and gram panchayat president visited her house and consoled her family.
According to the district control room in the deputy commissioner’s office, “A total 67 houses and plantations were damaged and losses to the tune of Rs 18.5 lakh were reported on Tuesday, in the 24 hours ending at 8.30am. On Wednesday, 105 houses and plantations were damaged, and the loss was estimated at Rs 23.5 lakh. On Thursday, 122 houses were damaged and plantations were also damaged, and the loss incurred was estimated at Rs 45.8 lakh.
On Thursday, 41 houses in Udupi taluk were damaged, and the loss incurred was estimated at Rs 17,37,000; 7 houses in Karkala taluk were damaged and the loss was estimated at Rs1,27,000; 10 houses in Byndoor taluk were damaged, which caused losses to the tune of Rs. 4,00,000; 21 houses in Kaup taluk were damaged, causing a loss to the tune of Rs 4,71,690; 19 houses in Brahmavar taluk were damaged, causing a loss to the tune of Rs 3,93,500 and 14 houses in Kundapur taluk were damaged, due to which losses were incurred to the tune of Rs 9,05,000. Damage to plantations, including arecanut, coconut and banana was to the extent of Rs 5,46,000, which were destroyed in different places in Udupi.
Narasimha Pandit, superintending engineer, Mescom, said that due to strong winds accompanying rain, transformers, wires and electrical poles in the district were damaged, causing losses to the tune of Rs 40 lakh till date. We have a 200-strong monsoon gang (boys who work on six months contract), regular contract workers and own staff, including 1,000 personnel for repair works in the district.”
Udupi district received 84.4 mm rain in the last 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Thursday, while Udupi taluk received 87.4 mm rain, Kundapur-70 mm and Karkala received 102.6 mm rain. As per the weather report, Udupi might receive rain up to 205mm in the next two days.