Belagavi villages inundated, heavy rain continues

The roads in the affected area are inundated with water rising to about two feet, and dozens of large uprooted trees have added to the problem.

Fifty villages in Belagavi district’s Khanapur taluk were inundated and cutoff from nearby towns after relentless downpour continued to lash the area, officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday. The roads in the affected area are inundated with water rising to about two feet, and dozens of large uprooted trees have added to the problem.

Khanapur taluk, located 30 kilometers away from the district headquarters in Belagavi and situated in the Western Ghats region, experiences the highest rainfall in north Karnataka (AP)

Khanapur taluk, located 30 kilometers away from the district headquarters in Belagavi and situated in the Western Ghats region, experiences the highest rainfall in north Karnataka. The most affected villages from the area are Nagaragaali, Gunji, Londa, Hemmadaga, Nerase, Nilavade, Jamboti, and Kanakumbi, where residents have lost communication with nearby towns and the taluka headquarters in Khanapur. To ensure public safety, police personnel have been deployed on both ends of the flooded roads.

Hundreds of hamlet-like villages situated in the thick forest area lose connection with nearly towns during every monsoon and have been experiencing a similar situation since the past four days. “Such a situation creates no impact on us as it’s common for us during every monsoon. Before the onset of monsoon we store our essential items for four months,” said Dondiba Patil an agriculturist living about 25 km inside in the forest from taluka headquarter Khanapur said.

The heavy rains have also disrupted traffic on the Belagavi-Panaji National Highway No. 4A, after a large tree fell onto the road on Tuesday night, affecting the traffic movement for nearly two hours. Assistant conservator of forest Santosh Chauhan told HT that it took about an hour to remove the tree and clear the road. “Fortunately, the tree didn’t fall on people or buses. Despite using earth-moving machines and cranes it took two hours to remove the large tree,” he said

The continuous rainfall has led to a rise in water levels of the Malaprabha, Mahadayi, and Pandari rivers in the taluk. As a result, the Anjaneya temple in Habbanahatti and the Maralu Shankar temple in Itagi village have been submerged under water. Moreover, several bridges were also submerged due to a rise water levels in the Malaprabha and Pandari rivers.

Considering the heavy rains, the forest department has imposed a ban on people entering the waterfall zone near Chorla village to avoid any untoward incidents. The forest department has imposed restrictions under the Karnataka Forest Act 1963. “Since the department would be held accountable for the crimes and untoward incidents that occurred inside the forest for which the department has prevented people from entering into the zone,” ACF Chauhan said.