Kodagu marooned after heavy rains: Schools, colleges closed

Bengaluru: Normal life in most parts of Kodagu district has been thrown out of gear in the last one week due to incessant rains which have caused major power outages. Around 1,200 electricity poles have toppled in the entire district following high speed wind coupled with heavy rain.

According to sources, people, living in remote villages, have not been able to pump water from sumps and even charge their mobile phones as there is no power supply for the last one week. With great difficulty, Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Company(CESC) officials have been able to restore power supply in the taluks but remote areas are totally in dark.

The CESC Executive Engineer of Kodagu district told Deccan Chronicle that high-speed winds coupled with heavy rains were impeding efforts to restore power supply. Extra staff have been deputed from Mysuru region to restore power supply but they too were facing problems due to the rough terrain and heavy downpour. Since Wednesday, an additional 150 electricity poles have been uprooted in different parts of the district making restoration plans go haywire.

Anticipating rain havoc, the department had stocked around 2,000 electricity poles, which are now being diverted to the sub-divisions concerned to replace damaged poles. Transportation of poles has become difficult as several areas are inundated with rain water. But people of South Kodagu are helping the department in clearing fallen trees and providing labourers to transport the poles to remote villages. "WIthout their help, we could not have restored power supply to important taluk centres", he added.

The EE said while power supply had been restored in important towns, it would take at least 8-10 days to provide electricity to the entire district provided there are no high-speed winds or a heavy downpour. Frequent tripping was coming in the way of restoring power supply to Polibetta and Napoklu. "We know that people in remote villages are facing problems to pump water from sumps and to recharge their mobile phones. So our men are working hard to restore power in these villages. We are working whenever the rain stops".