After lull, heavy rain pounds north & south Karnataka; 5 dead

BENGALURU: Five persons, including two boys, were killed and properties and crops worth hundreds of crores of rupees were damaged as torrential rain triggered a fear of floods as several rivers, especially in North Karnataka , are in spate.

With the meteorological department predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall over the next 3-4 days, a red alert has been sounded in entire north and south-interior Karnataka.

The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre director GS Srinivasa Reddy said the intensity of rain and inflow in Krishna and its tributaries may increase in the next 2-3 days as two upper-air cyclonic systems in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal were bringing rain in interior parts of Karnataka.

The Central Water Commission issued a special advisory for Karnataka on Monday evening, asking authorities to be vigilant. The district administrations of Belagavi, Vijayapura, Bagalkot and Dharwad districts have been kept on their toes and SDRF and NDRF teams have been summoned to tackle emergencies.

Most districts of Mumbai-Karnataka, still struggling to recover from devastation in the August floods, came under the nature’s fury again on Monday.

Deaths occurred in Kusamalagi village in Khanapur taluk, Chinchodi village, Devadurga taluk (Raichur district), Teggihal village, Koppal district and in Hirekerur village. Meanwhile, 30 passengers were rescued from a Bengaluru-bound bus submerged in a railway underpass in Yalavigi village in Haveri district.