Bangalore, August 3;Heavy rain in the districts of Malnad region has left the people as well as the district authorities battered. In the last 19 years, the region had not received so much rain. Name any major reservoir in the region, it has almost reached the brim.
All the districts in the region — Shimoga, Kodagu, Chikmagalur and Hassan – are home to major hydel reservoirs.
“From June 1 till date, the region has received exceptionally heavy rainfall. If the rainfall is 20 per cent more than normal, it is considered heavy rain. The Malnad region has received 42 per cent more than normal rainfall. Shimoga received 1,747 mm of rain against the normal of 1,283 mm, indicating 36 pc above normal. In Hassan, the excess is 53 pc more, Chikmagalur 57 pc more and Kodagu 32 pc more than normal,” said V S Prakash, director of the Drought Monitoring Cell.
He said that the effect of the excess rainfall on agricultural activities would be known only after some weeks. So far, the rains have helped paddy cultivation in many districts as it is a water intensive crop.
Rains to continue
The rains have been receding in the last three days and the trend is set to continue for the next three days, he said.
On the whole, the State has so far received 22 pc rain above normal. Of the 747 hoblis in the State, 121 hoblis have not received normal rain.
Unlike the Malnad district, the three coastal districts have not received heavy rains except Uttara Kannada. While Dakshina Kannada has received rains 16 pc below normal and Udupi four pc, Uttara Kannada has received 25 pc more than normal from January till now.
2 pc rainfall in Bangalore
In South Interior Karnataka, Bangalore Urban district has received two pc less than normal, while Bangalore Rural has been blessed with eight per cent more than normal.
The water-starved districts of Kolar and Chikkaballapur are still facing deficit rain, as per the data available with the government.
According to the revenue department, in all 1,260 km of road has been damaged due to rains. The loss has been put at
Rs 53.34 crore. Nearly 181 bridges/culverts have been damaged and the estimated loss is Rs 7.45 crore.
The loss, including damage to private and public properties, is about Rs 82.74 crore. In Chikmagalur district alone, 43.56 km of road has been damaged, while it is 22.1 km in Kodagu.
Linganamakki 1816.75 2.25
Supa 1820.66 29.3
Varahi 1938.09 11.41
Harangi 2857.79 1.21
Hemavathi 2921 1.00
KRS * 124.18 0.62
Kabini 2281.56 2.44
Bhadra 2156.16 1.84
Tungabhadra 1630.99 2.01
Ghataprabha 2168.75 6.25
Malaprabha 2065.70 13.80
Almatti 1699.89 4.92
Narayanpura 1611.97 3.03
* Height above local ground level, * * in feet
