Lightning kills three in State

Bangalore, May 12: Heavy rain which lashed several districts in the State has claimed the lives of three persons, cattle and has left a trail of destruction in several villages.

Suresh Pujari and his two oxen were killed when they were struck by lightning, while they were ploughing the field at Panegaom village in Gulbarga on Friday.

In Udanur village, three oxen were killed when they were struck by lightning. Another person was struck by lightning at Haliyal, in Uttara Kannada district because of lightning.

The details of the dead are unavailable. In another incident of lightning, Basappa Suganalli, 38, was killed at Kusalapur in Shiratti taluk of Gadag district.

Heavy rain with gusty winds on Thursday night have left 500 coconut trees and more than 1,500 banana plants uprooted at Arasikere taluk in Hassan district.

The asbestos roofs of 10 houses were blown away. Losses have been put at Rs five lakh . Heavy rain lashed Bendekere, Basavarajpura, Shanthanahalli, Haratanahalli, Puralehalli villages in the taluk.

An electricity pole which broke into two halves fell on the drinking water tank, thereby halting water and power supply to the village. Rainwater gushed into several houses damaging the foodgrains and other items.

A coconut tree fell on a transformer and damaging it in one of the fields.

H D Kote taluk in Mysore received good rainfall. Agricultural produce worth lakhs of rupees including 300 banana plants, 140 drumstick plants belonging to farmer Ksheerasagara, from Vaddaragudi village have been destroyed.

Heavy downpour accompanied with hailstones, lightning and thunder during noon provided much needed respite from the summer heat for the residents of Belgaum City.

In Dharwad City, major drains and roads were overflowing due to rain which lashed for more than two hours on Friday evening.

Traffic movement came to a grinding halt leading to chaos and confusion. Several low-lying areas including Jannat Nagar, Lakshmisinghanakeri, Koppadkeri, Haveripete, Murugha Mutt area, Bhavikatti plot, Tollnaka, Honnatti Chawl, etc were inundated with rainwater. Dark clouds and lack of power supply turned the city into pitch dark.

The compound wall belonging to SC?Puranik near Rayara Mutt was damaged in the rain. According to the Director of Meteorological Department Puttanna, more rains are expected in the North Karnataka and coastal region in next few days.