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Mangaluru, Aug 5: Normal life was thrown out of gear as heavy rain and gusty winds lashed large parts of coastal and malnad districts of Karnataka in last 48 hours. Widespread power outages due to tree fall and minor landslides were reported in last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Indian Meteorological Department has sounded a red alert for Uttara Kannada, Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts 8:30am of August 5.

In Mangaluru city there were several tree falls disrupting power supply in key areas of the city. Four electricity poles were damaged after a tree fell on Boloor Jarandaya road due to rain and heavy winds. In Neermarga too, there were a couple of tree falls in the morning cutting off power supply, which was not restored till this report was sent.

Mescom bore the brunt of the rains in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada District and at the last count as many as 148 electric poles, 23 transformers and 65 kilometer conductor wires were damaged due to poles being damaged in tree fall and landslides.

Traffic was affected on Charmadi Ghat on the Mangaluru-Chikkamagaluru route due to a tree fall on the second hair pin bend. 

On Monday, landslides near Kottigehara, Chikkamagaluru District, left traffic badly affected. Though normalcy has been restored on the route after blocking the road for restoration till Tuesday morning, locals fear more landslides due to continuous downpour.

Kodagu district too received heavy rainfall in past 24 hours which resulted in water logging in low-lying areas.

In the Coast, Uttara Kannada received the highest amount of rainfall at 91mm, followed by Udupi at 75 and DK at 73mm. The highest Rainfall of 241 mm was recorded at Castlerock, Supa Taluk in Uttara Kannada District.

KSNMDC bulletin stated that widespread moderate to heavy rains associated with strong surface winds at times and isolated very heavy to extreme heavy rains was likely over Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts It also stated that wind speeds ranging between 50kmph to 60 kmph was forecast along the coast of Karnataka from Mangaluru to Karwar, warning fishermen not to venture into the sea.

Bengaluru, Aug 4: Deputy Chief Minister Dr.CN Ashwathnarayan instructed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner Manjunatha Prasad to set up a separate high-level committee to ascertain the exact cause of coronavirus-related deaths in the state.

He spoke to reporters after a meeting with Prasad on Tuesday.

"The committee, headed by senior officials will audit the reason for the increase in death cases. Has there been a death due to treatment delay? Or are there any shortcomings in the treatment process?" the deputy chief minister said.

He pointed out that based on the report, the committee should try to correct the deficiency and reduce the death rate.

"How many beds are in which hospital? How many patients are on a ventilator? How many have gone home from the hospital? Etc. All information needs to be updated online at the moment. He suggested that this information should be made available to the public online," Ashwaththanarayana said.

Stating that some hospitals are not giving details about the number of beds correctly, he instructed the commissioners to take legal action if differences in their data are found.

He said that there is a shortage of ASHA workers in the city and it needs to be hired immediately.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there are 74,477 active COVID-19 cases in Karnataka and the death toll in the state is at 2,594.