Karnataka: Landslide at Kudremukh National Park as wind, rain batter coast

MANGALURU: For the third day in a row, the three coastal districts of Karnataka received heavy-to-moderate rain. While it was heavy in Udupi, the rainfall was moderate in Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts on Monday. Like on Sunday, the continuous rain saw many low-lying areas, houses near river banks and agricultural fields being inundated in the three districts.
There was a major landslide inside the Kudremukh National Park at Alladakadu of Belthangady taluk. Fortunately the site, where over 6acre of land has slid, is far away from the inhabited area. The incident came to light after the villagers saw slushy water flowing into the rivulets, and brought it to notice of the authorities. Tahsildar Mahesh J said that the landslide was about 3km from the inhabited area.
In the last 24 hours, 230 persons were shifted to relief camps in Dakshina Kannada. Five houses have been damaged completely and 20 partially, according to the district bulletin. Even in Udupi, there was damage to property, but the damage is yet to be estimated.
Udupi received the highest amount of rainfall at 127mm, while both Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada received 73mm rain.
Meanwhile, the water level in rivers has gone down drastically. Nethravathi river at Bantwal was 2.5m below the danger level of 8.5m, while it was 4m below the danger mark at Uppinangady. So was the case with Kumaradhara river at Uppinangady.
KSNMDC bulletin stated that high waves in 2.8-3.1m range were forecast along the coast of Karnataka from Mangaluru to Karwar till 11.30pm of Tuesday. Strong wind with speeds reaching 50-60kmph may also prevail along and off the Karnataka coast, the bulletin stated, warning fishermen not to venture into the sea.
According to rain forecast, the coastal districts will have widespread moderate-to-heavy rain associated with strong surface winds and scattered very heavy-to-extremely heavy rain over the three coastal districts.