Heavy Monsoon Rain Continues to Lash Malnad and Coastal Karnataka, Bengaluru Gets Season’s Heavy Rain

Bengaluru: Heavy rain has been lashing Coastal and Malnad (hilly region) of Karnataka for the past two days. It has claimed the life of a 48-year-old woman Vanaja in Chikmagalur district. The monsoon has claimed almost two dozen lives in the state since its arrival in the first week of June.

The state capital Bengaluru which had not received much rain in the last one month has been getting a good rainfall in the last two hours. It has led to waterlogging at several places and the traffic has come to a halt at many major junctions.

The rain has battered coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada. The major rivers like Nethravathi, Kumaradhara, Swarna, Seetha, Varahi and Kali are in spate causing flood at some places.

The hill districts of Kodagu, Hassan, Chikmagalur and Shimoga have also been receiving very heavy to heavy rain throwing the normal life out of gear. Several Ghat roads have been fully or partially blocked by heavy rain and landslides in these districts.

The Cauvery river is flowing above the danger mark in Kodagu district, cutting off links to villages and towns. The KRS Dam near Mysore is filling up fast and requires just 11 feet more water to reach its maximum water storage capacity of 124 feet.

The tributaries of Cauvery – Harangi, Kapila, Kabini and Hemavathi are also in spate.

The Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy has verbally instructed the water resources department to release the water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu following good inflow into the reservoirs in the Cauvery basin.

Rivers originating in Chikmagalur district – Tunga and Bhadra are also getting the good inflow due to heavy rain in the Western Ghats. River Tunga is flowing above the danger mark at holy place Shringeri, triggering panic in the temple town.

In neighbouring Shimoga district, river Sharavathi is getting a large quantity of water and Karnataka’s largest reservoir Linganamakki has been receiving over 35,000 Cusecs of water every 24 hours.

Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Cell (KSNDMC) has predicted heavy rain across coastal and Malnad Karnataka in the next 24 hours.

Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has instructed the concerned district administrations to be on high alert and extend all possible help to people.