Raging Krishna river creates flood scare afresh in N Karnataka

Flood scare returned to haunt many regions in north Karnataka barely a month after the 'unprecedented' deluge in the wake of heavy downpour in the catchment regions of Krishna.

Mighty Krishna River and its tributaries Malaprabha, Ghataprabha, Vedganga, Doodhganga and Hiranyakeshi are in spate again after wreaking havoc in Belagavi, Bagalkot, Yadgir and Gadag districts of the state.

For the past three days we have been releasing over two lakh cusecs of water from Narayanapur (dam). This will result in inundation of some bridges and bunds and disruption in communication, Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) director G S Srinivasa Reddy told PTI.

He said the intensity this time may be as severe as it had been a month ago causing massive damage to human lives, livestock, dwellings, infrastructure and crops.

According to KSNDMC, 1.52 lakh cusecs of water was released from Rajapur Barrage and from Kallol Barrage and 1.8 lakh cusecs of water was released from the Almatti dam.

The KSNDMC has been monitoring the increasing inflow of the Krishna river into the dam.

The inflow was 1.65 lakh cusecs of water while outflow has been increased to 2.3 lakh cusecs.

As many as 103 taluks of 22 districts were hit by the floods last month.

Approximately 7.5 lakh hectare of land was submerged in water and 82 people lost their lives.

The floods in August compelled the government to open 493 relief camps where about 2.10 lakh people were accommodated till the water receded.

"The flood has caused immense damage to the state where there is a need to build 1.25 lakh houses. The state government is ready to release grants for the purpose," Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had said on Saturday.

Since relief works of a large-scale have to be carried out, the state government is looking at the Centre for the announcement of a special package.

The opposition Congress has been targeting the newly formed Yediyurappa government for failing to bring Central aid.