Heavy rain causes havoc in Venoor and Hosangady in Dakshina Kannada district of coastal Karnataka

Heavy rain causes havoc in Venoor and Hosangady in Dakshina Kannada district of coastal Karnataka

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, August 1, 2024: Heavy rains since July 31 night caused havoc in Venoor and Hosangady on the foothills of the Western Ghats, in Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka.

Water from Hosangady and Venoor rivers, which are the tributaries of Phalguni river, entered more than 20 houses in Hosangady, Badakodi and Maroor villages. Many houses and buildings were filled with sludge. A minor bridge at Malady-Sonandur village was washed away.

“There was a cloudburst-like situation,” former Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Vice-President P. Dharanendra Kumar told The Hindu over phone from Hosangady village. The rains began around 7 p.m. on July 31 and lasted till 4 a.m. on August 1, he said.

Mr. Kumar said that the Belthangady-Venoor State Highway was under water till early on August 1. Sheshappa Naik from Badakodi village said there was chest deep water in his house. He lost 500 coconuts and about 300 bags of manure.

“According to some elders in my village, this is the first time since 1974 that this area witnessed such a severe kind of flood due to heavy rains in the Western Ghats. They recall that in 1937 too there was a similar kind of flood,” he said.

Anil Naik from Badakodi village told over phone that water had entered his house at 9.30 p.m. on July 31 and receded at 3 a.m. on August 1.

“We shifted our cattle to a safer place. Our paddy field is completely damaged,” he said. Water from the Phalguni entered some low-lying areas in Moodushedde, on the outskirts of Mangaluru city.

Rescue teams used a rubber boat to shift a family to a safer place. Reports said that due to spate in the Phalguni, water had entered some houses in Gurupura and Vamanjoor on August 1 morning.

Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner M. P. Mullai Muhilan has declared a holiday for schools and pre-university colleges in the district on August 1 in view of an orange alert by the IMD.

According to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, Renjala gram panchayat, in Karkala taluk of Udupi district, recorded the maximum 319.5 mm rainfall in Karnataka in the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 a.m. on August 1. The maximum rainfall in Dakshina Kannada during the same period was at Shirthady gram panchayat in Belthangady taluk (269 mm).

Courtesy: The Hindu