Monsoon rain throws life out of gear, uproots trees, raises river levels in DK, Udupi

Mangaluru/Udupi, Jun 9: The southwest monsoon has intensified in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and other districts of Karnataka. Water-levels started increasing in prominent rivers in the region.

Gusty winds uprooted dozens of trees in the region in last 24 hours. In Manglauru city alone nearly seven trees fell causing inconveniences to people and motorists.

Giant tree branch falls injuring 4

Last evening, a huge branch of a peepal tree in front of the historic Mangaladevi temple in Mangaluru fell evening resulting in injury to four persons.

Surekha (63) is undergoing treatment at KMC Hospital Attavar, Praveen Suvarna (49) at Fr Muller’s, Naveen (45) and Tejaswini (20) at District Wenlock Hospital.

According to eye-witness accounts, the huge branch of the tree at the Nagarakatte fell at around 7 p.m. just after a spell of heavy rain of 30 minutes. There were brief spells of heavy rain throughout the day.

The branch fell on the portion of a metal roofing in the courtyard of the temple. The portion of the metal roofing came down along with the falling branch.

 The incessant rain in the last two days resulted in the collapse of the compound wall of the house belonging to Harish Poojary at Palike Annamoole in Vittal Kasaba. The asbestos sheet of the house has been damaged.

Rivers soar

The Dakshina Kannada district administration had alerted the disaster management team in Uppinangady to ensure that the communication links with the adjoining places are not snapped due to rain and boats were on standby in case of any emergency in Uppinangady.

The continuous rain has increased the inflow of water to River Kumaradhara. As a result, the snanagatta at Kukke Subrahmanya has been partially inundated. The Subrahmanya police have instructed devotees not to enter the river for bathing. With Hariharapallathadka, Kollamogru, Kalmakaru, Balugodu experiencing good rainfall, a rivulet near Padaka is overflowing.

Damages in Udupi

At least 10 structures were damaged and water inundated low-lying areas in some places on account of heavy rain that was accompanied by winds in Udupi district yesterday.

According to the information provided by the district administration, three houses were partially damaged in Kadekar village, when trees fell on them. The damage to all three of them taken together was estimated at Rs. 1 lakh.

One house was partially damaged in Kuthpady when a tree fell on it. The loss is estimated at Rs. 45,000.

A house was damaged when a tree fell on it in Karkala taluk and the loss has been estimated at Rs. 15,000. A house each was damaged in Kalavara and Katbelthur villages in Kundapur taluk, when trees fell on them. The loss to both the houses taken together was estimated at Rs. 70,000.

Tiles of a section of a building of the Government First Grade College were blown away due to rain accompanied by winds at Shankarnarayana village. The compound wall of the Vishnumurthy temple collapsed due to rain at Hermunde village.

Damages in DK

The compound wall of a house collapsed at Indira Nagara in Haleyangady Gram Panchayat. The house belongs to auto driver Usman. A compound wall collapsed on a road leading to Putrabailu SC Colony in Laila Gram panchayat jurisdiction.

With the uprooted trees falling on the electricity poles, power got disrupted in different parts of the district since Thursday night. As a tree fell on an electricity pole, at Ishwaramangala, the power supply was disrupted.

A huge tree fell on the road at Kumbhakkodu in Aletti of Sullia taluk and had disrupted the movement of vehicles for some time. Home Guards, Forest Department officials and local residents cleared the tree and helped vehicular movement.

A huge tree fell on a house at Bettampady in Puttur. The house belongs to Babu Mera in Koovenja in Bettampady.

With heavy rain lashing Belthangady taluk, the temporary road connecting Kakkinje-Neriya has collapsed at Bendrala. The villagers, therefore, had to travel six-kilometre more to reach their destination. As the work on a minor bridge to connect Kakkinge-Neriya is in progress, a temporary road had been built for the villagers.