Four feared dead as rain pounds north Karnataka

BENGALURU: Three women and a six-year-old girl were feared dead as rain lashed districts of northern Karnataka for the third straight day, disrupting life and flooding thousands of acres of standing crop.
The four persons went missing after their coracle capsized in the Krishna on the Telangana-Karnataka border in Raichur on Monday. Police are searching for their bodies. Nineteen people have been killed in the state in the rain since August 1.
Road connectivity was disrupted at several places as bridges were submerged by overflowing rivers.
Rain pummels north K’taka
Krishna, Malaprabha and Ghataprabha continue to be in spate
Raichur and Kalaburagi are cut off from each other as the Huvinahedagi-Kollur bridge in Devadurga taluk is submerged.
The situation is expected to worsen if rain continues, especially in Maharashtra, as floods seem imminent over hundreds of villages in Belagavi, Bagalkot, Gadag, Raichur and Yadgir districts. The Krishna, Malaprabha and Ghataprabha continued to be in spate till Monday morning. There was some let-up late in the evening as the rain stopped. The state disaster monitoring centre has predicted more rain in flood-hit areas in the next 24 hours. Authorities are expecting greater inflow into the Krishna in the next two days as 50,000 cusecs of water are set to be released from Koyna dam in Maharashtra by Tuesday afternoon.“We have been monitoring water levels in reservoirs. We are releasing more water from dams than the inflows to avoid heavy discharges and subsequent floods,” said Srinivas Reddy, senior consultant of KSDMA.
Flood threat was more in villages on the banks of Malaprabha as the river was flowing to its full capacity. “The water carrying capacity of the river is 25,000 cusecs and the flow is more than this,” said an official from the irrigation department. As a result, parts of Munavalli, Sunnal and Ghatanur villages were under water forcing authorities to shift the affected villagers to relief centres. These villages are being affected by floods for the second year in a row.
Deputy chief minister Govind Karjol visited the villages prone to flooding from Malaprabha on Monday and instructed officials to meet any emergency. “Of the 31villages on the banks of the river in Bagalkot district, only Nandagoan village is affected as of now. We have shifted people to a safer place. We have made preparations to shift people from other villages if the situation worsens,” Karjol said.