As flooding worsens in north Karnataka districts, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has announced that he will conduct an aerial survey of the damage on Monday, 5 August.
This was announced after the CM held a video conference with district officials on Sunday afternoon. The flood-affected districts include Belagavi, the worst affected area, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Raichur and Yadgir.
With heavy rain in Maharashtra, the upper riparian state has released water from the Koyna reservoir and Rajapur dam into the Krishna river, which had caused flooding. Moreover, rainfall within Belagavi city has flooded its streets, primarily in the suburban areas.
Two platoons of the Maratha regiment soldiers have arrived in Chikkodi to support rescue operations.
As more rain is expected over the next five days in Maharashtra, where dams are almost at capacity, the situation will remain serious in the coming week, officials said. They added that the localised rainfall was not a major source of concern.
“The CM has held a video conference with the DCs of the five districts. The situation is currently under control and district administrations have taken all necessary precautions and moved people living in low lying areas. There are sufficient resources with them and there is no reason to worry. There are teams of Army, SDRF (State Disaster Response Force), NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) and Fire and Emergency Department personnel on the ground,” Karnataka State Disaster Monitoring Centre Director GS Srinivas Reddy told TNM.
“There are already seven relief camps open and more will be opened if the district administrators feel it is necessary. So far, in Belagavi alone, 235 families with a total of 705 persons have been shifted. 365 household animals have also been shifted. Most of these have gone to their relatives’ place instead of relief camps,” he added.
So far, one person has been killed in the floods and crops have been extensively damaged.
Meanwhile, senior Congress MLA HK Patil has asked CM Yeddyurappa to skip his Delhi trip and focus instead on flood mitigation measures.
(Published in an arrangement with The News Minute)
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