Flood havoc in North Karnataka, 5,000 families evacuated

The Karnataka Government has evacuated more than 5,000 families in northern parts of the State to safer places after release of excess water from the reservoirs of Maharashtra deluged hundreds of villages along the steadily rising rivers.

Flood havoc was reported from several parts of Belgaum, Gulbarga, Bijapur and Bagalkot districts in north Karnataka in the wake of discharge of more than 200,000 cusecs of water every day from Koyna, Ujini and Veerabhatkal reservoirs in Maharashtra, which has been experiencing heavy rainfall.

With rivers like Bhima, Krishna and Ghataprabha rising the dangerous levels, the Disaster Management Committee reviewed the flood situation and directed the authorities to begin a mass evacuation of people residing in low-lying areas along the rivers to safer places.

More than 2,000 families spread across the four districts of north Karnataka were evacuated after their villages were marooned. Belgaum district was the worst affected with more 1,000 families evacuated to safer places. Another 3,000 families were evacuated as the water level in the rivers posed an imminent danger of floods in their villages.

At least 25 villages in Belgaum district were reported to have lost contact with headquarters due to submersion of bridges. In Gulbarga, 43 villages spread across six taluks had been flooded, forcing the evacuation of people to safer places. Boats had been pressed into service to ferry residents of marooned villages to safety.

Hundreds of houses had collapsed and thousands of acres of sown land had been inundated causing a huge loss to the farmers.

Meanwhile, the Disaster Management Committee has set up relief camps equipped with drinking water, food, medicines, medical teams, veterinary inspectors and fodder for cattle.

Karnataka’s Minister for Revenue Jagadish Shettar told reporters that the officials were in constant touch with their counterparts in neighbouring Maharashtra on the release of water from their reservoirs. We are also releasing an equal quantity of water from Almatti and other reservoirs in north Karnataka to maintain a balance and reduce the damage”, Shettar said.