Incessant rains have hit the normal life in many parts of Shivamogga, Hassan and Chikkamagaluru districts. Roads are flooded, the vehicular movement has been affected as many trees have fallen on the roads, rivers and streams are in spate and the inflow into reservoirs has been increasing.
A portion of the National Highway-75 near Ballupete in Sakaleshpur, being widened, developed huge cracks and depressions. The local people are worried about the safety of travellers on the road and alleged that the contractor was not doing good work. A huge tree fell near Bisale Ghat, obstructing the movement of vehicles on the road connecting Bisale and Kukke Subramanya. The vehicular movement was affected for a couple of hours.
Inflow
With the heavy rains in Mudigere and Sakaleshpur taluks, the inflow into the Hemavathi reservoir at Gorur has increased. The Superintendent Engineer of the Hemavathi Project has issued a warning to the people residing downstream of the reservoir to shift to safer places, as water could be released from the reservoir anytime. As of Thursday morning, the water level in the dam stood at 2,913.6 ft against the full reservoir level of 2,922 ft. The inflow was 16,660 cusecs. The water level at Yagachi reservoir at Belur has reached the maximum level, forcing the officers to open the crest gates.
In Shivamogga, the inflow to Tunga Dam at Gajanur has been increasing, forcing the officers to increase the outflow. The outflow on Thursday was 49,638 cusecs. Parts of Shivamogga, Thirthahalli, Sagar, Hosanagar, Shikaraipur, Sorab taluks received heavy rains on the day. A wall of a house in Sagar town collapsed, damaging a two-wheeler. Similarly, in Shivamogga town a house suffered damage. Another house was hit badly in Ayanur.
Shivamogga district received an average of 67.51 mm of rainfall 24 hours before Thursday morning. Sagar taluk recorded 111.4 mm of rainfall, Hosanagar received 106.4 mm, Thirthahalli – 94.4 mm, Sorab – 46.8 mm, Shivamogga – 48.7mm, Bhadravathi – 31.9 mm and Shikaripur recorded 33 mm of rainfall.
The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre has sounded an Orange alert for Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga districts until Friday morning. Chikkamagaluru recorded an average of 47 mm of rainfall against the normal of 16.6 mm. The highest rainfall of 197.5 mm was recorded at Begar in Sringeri taluk. Hassan recorded an average of 22 mm against normal rainfall of 8.7 mm. Devalkere in Sakaleshpur taluk recorded the highest of 101 mm of rainfall.
