Landslide claims six lives in Karnataka

Six persons including a child were buried alive in their house in a landslide reported from Madikeri in Karnataka’s Kodagu district during overnight rains.

Though rescue teams reached the disaster site early yesterday, all the six persons in the debris-covered house were found dead. The large quantity of mud, gravel and boulders had rolled onto the ill-fated house located on Virajpet Road in Madikeri.

The authorities announced a compensation of Rs 50,000 each for next of kin of the deceased victims and instructed people residing in such “risky” areas to immediately shift to safer places.

Kodagu district has been witnessing a torrential downpour since the last three days, causing widespread havoc and throwing normal life out of gear. With heavy rains uprooting hundreds of trees and electricity poles, many parts of the district remained plunged in darkness.

The district administration has declared a holiday for educational institutions in Kodagu yesterday and today in view of the meteorological department’s warning that rains will intensify in the next 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the heavy rains in interior parts of Karnataka during the last two to three days is fast filling up the reservoirs built across river Cauvery.

With the catchment areas of Cauvery in Kodagu recording more than 211 mm rainfall during the last 24 hours, the water level at KRS and Harangi reservoirs is fast filling to the brim, forcing the authorities to sound an alert to people residing downstream to move to safer places.

The water level at Harangi reservoir had already reached its maximum level of 2,859 feet. The authorities were forced to throw open all the crest gates of the dam, leading to a huge discharge of water.

The downstream KRS reservoir was receiving an inflow of 17,000 cusecs of water and pushing up the water level. Though the water level at KRS stood at 108.18 feet against its maximum of 128.8 feet, authorities feel that the reservoir will be full to the brim sooner than later if the rains continue for a few more days.

The Kabini reservoir too had been witnessing an inflow of more than 25,000 cusecs of water with its catchment area in Wynad receiving heavy rainfall.

The water level in the reservoir had reached its maximum level of 2,284 feet and the authorities had been discharging more than 40,000 cusecs of water from the reservoir since Monday.

A bridge built across the river in H D Kote has been submerged due to discharge of water from the reservoir and movement of vehicles on the route has been banned. The Government authorities have also issued an alert to people residing downstream of the reservoirs to move to safer places with their livestock in view of the likelihood of floods.