Heavy rainfall in the last few days have wreaked havoc in several parts of Karnataka, especially in coastal Udupi district where houses and crops have been submerged.The government has rushed National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel for rescue operations on Sunday.
Officials in the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) said an alert for heavy rainfall has been issued for Malnad, coastal regions and a few interior and northern districts for the next couple of days.The second wave of southwest Monsoon fury hit the state which is yet to recover fully from the floods in north Karnataka, Malnad and the coastal regions last month amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The situation in Udupi has been grim as some villages have submerged, houses have collapsed, roads washed away and standing crops completely destroyed, a senior official in the KSNDMC said on Sunday.In the district headquarter town of Udupi, several houses, four-wheelers and roads have come under sheets of water.
State home minister, Basavaraj Bommai, said on Sunday that he has directed the Udupi district authority to take relief measures immediately."I am aware of the floods in Udupi inundating a few villages.
I have directed the district authorities to rush a 250-member team of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) there.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) will also reach there," he said in a statement.
The Minister said he would speak to Revenue Minister R Ashoka regarding requestioning a helicopter of the Air Force for the rescue work.According to a Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority officer, a helicopter has already been put on standby to carry out rescue operations there.
Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada are also bearing the brunt of the torrential rains in the region along with Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga and Hassan for the past few days.
In North Karnataka, rains have wreaked havoc in Vijayapura, Raichur, Kalaburagi and Bidar.
Bengaluru, Mysuru and Tumakuru are also receiving heavy rainfall in the last few days.According to the bulletin issued by the KSNDMC, heavy rains are likely in the next few days in Bidar, Kalaburagi, Raichur, Vijayapura, Yadgir, Koppal, Belagavi, Bagalkote, Gadag, Dharwad, Haveri and Ballari districts.
There would be widespread moderate to heavy rains at most places with isolated very heavy to extremely heavy rains in Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu and Hassan districts.Earlier this month, the state government said that heavy rainfall since August 1 killed at least 20 people, displaced thousands, damaged more than 10,000 homes and crops in about 4.03 lakh hectares, among others.