The region has been experiencing heavy rainfall locally and in upstream areas of Maharashtra.
File image: Manjunath Doddamani Gajendragad at en.wikipedia / Public domain
A flood alert was sounded on Sunday in the northern parts of Karnataka owing to heavy rainfall in Malaprabha river’s catchment area. More rain is expected in the coming days. At present, all residents of villages downstream of Malaprabha dam and nearby low lying areas of Ramdurg in Belagavi district and Badami in Bagalkot district have been cautioned and are being evacuated to safer areas. This alert comes as northern Karnataka, bordering Maharashtra, has been experiencing flood-like situations due to heavy rainfall locally and in upstream areas of Maharashtra over two weeks. A total of 18 lives have been lost due to the heavy rains since August 1 in the state and three others are missing. According to officials, at 7 am on Sunday, the dam reservoir level was at 2,075.6 ft when the full capacity is 2,079 ft. The inflow of water was at 18,000 cusecs while the outflow was at around 10,000 cusecs. This outflow can be increased upto 15,000 cusecs in case of persistent rainfall in the catchment area or in upstream areas, officials said. “Yesterday (Saturday) night, almost all the upstream areas of Krishna, Ghataprabha and Malaprabha rivers had recorded heavy rainfall. It is expected that the inflows into all the dams in this part of the state will increase significantly. Almost all the dams are full both upstream in Maharashtra and in north Karnataka, so at any given time, if there is heavy rainfall, there is no cushion to hold extra water. That is why we have taken precautionary measures and sounded an alert,” Sreenivas Reddy, senior consultant with the state Disaster Management Authority, told TNM. Both Ghataprabha and Malaprabha are tributaries of river Krishna. “As of now, due to excess water in the Malaprabha river, areas that will be affected are Belagavi, parts of Dharwad and Gadag. If there is a similar situation which arises in Ghataprabha river, then Belagavi and Bagalkote will be affected. If there is flooding in Narayanpura river, then parts of Raichur and Yadgir will be affected,” he added. The official said that inflows in south Karnataka dams, including those in the Cauvery basin, are under control. With no excess rainfall predicted, there is no immediate worry.
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