INDIA.Karnataka: At least six people died and communication was disrupted due to heavy rains following cloud burst in Bhatkal, Sulya, and Kadaba talukas of North Karnataka in the last two days, even as the Weather Bureau announced an Orange alert till August 06 in the region on Tuesday.
The Bhatkal taluka received over 403 mm of rainfall in five hours on Tuesday, turning many villages into islands with several incidents of landslides reported from the area. The Chauthani river in Bhatkal is overflowing and most of the houses in the taluka have been submerged in rainwater, official sources in Karwar District Collectorate said.
Swarup Talekar of “Namma Karwar” told the Transcontinental Times, “Although Karwar city has not been affected, the severity of the deluge is felt more on the Karwar-Bhatkal sector. All educational institutes in Bhatkal, Sulya, and adjoining talukas remained closed due to the heavy rains and flooding.”
Shruti (11) and Jnanashree (6), the children of Kusumadhara and Rupashree, who were trapped under the mud died after their house collapsed at Kumaradhara Parvatmukhi in Subrahmanya village (Coorg district). Their bodies were shifted to the Kadaba Government Hospital for post-mortem. Besides, four persons were suspected to have died after boulders from a hillock rolled onto the house of Keripal Narayan in Muttalli Gram Panchayat.
Many villages, including Mankuli, Chauthani, Mundalli, Muttalli, and Mudha Bhatkal Bypass were inundated by rain and Fire Brigade personnel were working to evacuate people from the flooded area to a safer place. Short bridges have been submerged due to heavy rains and external connectivity to the villages has been cut off. People are struggling due to power outages. At present, National Disaster Reserve Force (NDRF) and SDRF forces are engaged in rescue operations at the site.
The road connecting Mudha Bhatkal bypass to Muttalli was flooded with rainwater. Major roads, including Malleswaram, Mysore Road, Raj Bhavan Road, Shivaji Nagar, Rajaji Nagar, Palace Guttahalli, Halasur, Sivananda Circle, and KRpur area, remained inundated with rainwater. Since National Highway No 66 is non-motorable the Karwar Uttara Kannada Zilla Panchayat has advised people not to venture travelling via the highway till further communication.
Due to the rains, the Konkan railway diverted/short terminated a couple of train services following water-logging on tracks between Bhatkal and Murdeshwar at Km. 606/5-6 and 608/7-8 on Tuesday.
While Madgaon Junction, Mangalore Central (No 06601) was cancelled, the Madgaon junction-Mangalore Central (No 06602) was short terminated at Udupi railway station. Other trains were regulated at Shiroor, Ankola, and Kumta railway stations.
Press releases from Konkan Railway and Southern Railway stated that Train No 06602 Mangaluru Central-Madgaon Special that commenced its journey on Tuesday (August 02) was short terminated at Udupi. Its pairing service, Train No. 06601 Madgaon-Mangalore Central would be cancelled.
Train No. 11098 Ernakulam-Pune Express journey commencing on Monday was regulated at Bhatkal while Train No. 16595 Bengaluru-Karwar Express that commenced journey on August 01 was regulated at Shiroor.
Train No 16334 Thiruvananthapuram-Veraval Express of August 01 (Senapura), Train No 12201 Mumbai Lokamanya Tilak Terminus- Kochuveli Express of August 1(Ankola) and Train No. 16516 Karwar-Yeshwantpur Express of August 2 (Honnavar) were regulated en-route.
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