On Friday evening, the official death toll in the floods in Karnataka stood at 16, as rescue and relief operations continue. The situational report prepared by the Chief Minister’s office said the orange warning is still in place for the Upper Krishna catchment area.
Among the 16 deaths, eight were reported in Belagavi, two in Uttara Kannada, one each in Mysuru, Shivamogga, Udupi and three in Dharwad. However, more deaths were confirmed by district administrations in Kodagu. The DC confirmed that seven people have died, out of which five people were trapped in a landslide. There are eight others who have been reported to be missing.
As of Friday evening, 2,07,212 people have been moved away to safety and Nodal officers are camping in vulnerable villages. In a total of 576 relief camps, 1,41,683 number of people have taken shelter. Clean drinking water, food and other relief materials have been provided in relief camps.
Rescue and relief operations are underway by a joint team of Fire and Emergency, SDRF, NDRF and Army. Four Indian Air Force choppers have been deployed to Belagavi (stationed at Hubbali). One Indian Navy chopper has been sent to Uttara Kannada.
Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has been travelling flood-affected areas and conducting aerial surveys of the flood.
The CMO report said Rs 100 crores have been released to flood-affected districts for immediate flood relief measures. Food and medicines are being air-dropped in seven villages (Bidralli, Dongri, Heggarani, Kalleshwar, Heggar, Ramanguli and Kaigari) of Uttara Kannada.
As per initial estimates, 1,410 km of roads have been damaged and 211 bridges, 10 minor irrigation tanks, 4,019 government buildings, 92 water supply infrastructure, 2,575 electrical poles and four sanitation structures were damaged in Belagavi alone.
In Dharwad, 413 km of roads damaged, 47 bridges/culverts, 19 tanks, 71 canals,158 government building have been damaged.
Minor landslides have taken place and several trees have fallen – a few stretches of NH-66, NH 275, SH-91 (Virajpet-Makuta) have been damaged in Kodagu.
The report added that the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre has predicted scattered moderate rain with isolated placed likely to receive heavy rainfall. Belagavi district is most likely to receive scattered to fairly widespread with moderate rain for the next four days. Coastal and Malnad regions in Karnataka are likely to receive widespread with heavy rains for the next two days.