Rain continued to lash Kodagu on Tuesday with life being affected even as the south-west monsoon which was slow in gaining traction during June and greater part of July, gained vigour during the last few days.
The district received 104.36 mm of rainfall during the 24-hour period ending 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday with 133.38 mm of rains in Madikeri taluk, 91.63 mm in Virajpet and 88.07 mm of rainfall in Somwarpet taluk and an orange alert has been declared till 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday.
At hobli level, Shanthalli recorded 212 mm of rainfall and Madikeri Kasaba recorded 95.80 mm of rainfall, Napoklu received 92.60 mm, Sampaje recorded 151.50 mm and Bhagamandala recorded 193.60 mm. The other regions with significant rainfall included Ammati (117.50 mm), Virajpet Kasaba (106.20 mm) Hudikeri (90.70 mm), Srimangala (96.40 mm) Somwarpet Kasaba (98 mm) and Shanivarsanthe received 69.20 mm of rainfall.
Rain damage
Rainfall was uniform and widespread across the district as a result of which there is an increase in the volume of water flowing in the Cauvery and its tributaries since the last few days.
River Cauvery was in full flow at Betri and landslips were reported at a few places. The Bettadakadu road in Nellihudikeri village in Kushalnagar hobli was inundated. Heavy rains in Bhagamandala has also led to inundation of road near Donikadu and the fire brigade personnel deployed fibre boats for the benefit of public in the flood-affected areas. A stranded pregnant woman and 7 others were rescued from flood at Aikola village in Madikeri taluk by Fire and Emergency Services personnel.
At Somwarpet, a few houses were damaged due to rains in Balagunda village. Senior revenue officials and PDOs have visited the spot to ascertain the extent of damage.
Officials from the Revenue Department also paid a visit to Tora village in Virajpet after receiving information of rain-related damages caused to a few houses.
A few residential areas in Kushalnagar like Kuvepu Extension, Sai Layout were flooded consequent to discharge at the rate of nearly 30,000 cusecs from the Harangi dam on Monday night.
Consequent to the recent rains, the rainfall deficiency has also narrowed and the cumulative rainfall which was 56% below normal till July 20, has narrowed to 33% below normal. The district has received a cumulative rainfall of 818 mm since June 1 against a normal of 1,229 mm. Between June 1 and July 20, Kodagu had received only 482 mm against a normal of 1102 mm. The narrowing of the shortfall by almost 23% in five days is due to vigorous monsoon across the district.
While the outflow from Harangi has helped augment the volume of water flowing into KRS in the downstream, the dam breached the 100-ft mark on Tuesday (see the related report). The late evening report indicated that the inflow into the Harangi had abated to 10,528 cusecs and the outflow from the reservoir was at the rate of 13,000 cusecs.
