Karnataka rain: Missing persons’ tally rises to five after two fresh incidents, say officials

According to police, a youth, who is yet to be identified, had come to the Krishna Raja Sagara (KRS) reservoir in Mandya district to watch the water flow from the water gates. “He later jumped into the river a few hundred metres away from the reservoir and was washed away in the strong current,” said an official of the KRS dam police station.

The tally of missing persons amid heavy rainfall across Karnataka rose to five on Thursday after two persons were washed away in separate incidents, and a rescue operation to locate them remained unsuccessful so far, officials said. The death toll remained at 32, they added.

The tally of missing persons amid heavy rainfall across Karnataka rose to five on Thursday after two persons were washed away in separate incidents, and a rescue operation to locate them remained unsuccessful so far. (AFP)

According to police, a youth, who is yet to be identified, had come to the Krishna Raja Sagara (KRS) reservoir in Mandya district to watch the water flow from the water gates.

“He later jumped into the river a few hundred metres away from the reservoir and was washed away in the strong current,” said an official of the KRS dam police station.

Similarly, another youth from Bengaluru, who was on a visit to Sangam, the confluence of two branches of Cauvery at Srirangapatna, was swept away in the waters when he decided to step into the river for a bath on Wednesday.

The Chamarajanagar district administration has decided to keep the Bharachukki waterfalls in Kollegal taluk and Hogenakkal waterfalls in Hanur taluk temporarily out of bounds for the general public because of the rising water level in the Cauvery and Kabini.

Chamarajanagar deputy commissioner Charulatha Somal said, “To prevent any untoward incident, entry of visitors to the water bodies has been temporarily banned as a precautionary measure.”

On Wednesday morning, the water resources department authorities released more than 53,300 cusecs of water from KRS, which had been brought down to about 33,600 cusecs by evening. The discharge of water from Kabini reservoir was around 38,000 cusecs on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted rains for another two days across Karnataka. An orange warning was sounded on Thursday for the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and Udupi, which have suffered heavy losses due to incessant rains.

Shivamogga, Kodagu, and Chikkamagalur districts are on orange warning and Hassan district are on yellow warning for another five days. North Karnataka districts of Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Belagavi, Dharwad, Gadag, and Haveri districts have also been given a yellow warning.

The water level of the Tungabhadra dam in the Koppal district is increasing steadily. The water has been released from the reservoir from all 30 sluice gates. The water inflow has increased due to heavy rainfall in Malnad (hilly) districts of the state, according to local authorities.

The three districts in coastal Karnataka reported a reduction in the average rainfall on Thursday. Dakshina Kannada district reported 72.6 mm of rain, which is more than the normal rainfall of 40.7 mm. Similarly, Uttara Kannada and Udupi reported 58.0 mm and 85.0 mm of rain respectively, the IMD stated.

While the district average has come down, the number of areas that received over 100 mm of rain remained similar in comparison. Seven measuring centres in coastal Karnataka have reported over 100 mm of rain. The highest rainfall was reported in Castle Rock with 141.8 mm of rain, followed by Dharamsthala with 111.4 mm of rain.