Kodagu floods devastated its forests too

Mysuru: The recent floods and landslides in Kodagu that devastated its coffee estates, and farmlands, also destroyed vast stretches of forests and damaged bridges and dams inside them, causing the forest department a loss of Rs 1,387 lakhs. 

Besides 1,586 trees worth Rs 1,000 lakh, 97,500  plants valued at Rs 9.7 lakh in the district’s forests were destroyed in the disaster, reveals Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Brijesh Kumar.

“As much as 82.555 kms of forest roads, 13 bridges and crossways, four check dams, four culverts, 22 tanks, 10 animal prohibitive trenches, elephant prohibitive trenches, 76 kms of solar wire fence, 16 government buildings, one meteorology centre, nine cottages in Cauvery Nisarga Dhama in Kushalnagar were also damaged in the disaster,” he told the Deccan Chronicle.

In all, as many as 2,034 trees and 1, 47, 400 plants were destroyed and property worth Rs 2,067 lakh damaged in the forests of Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada , Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Hassan, Chikkamagaluru and Shimoga districts in the recent downpour, he said.

“There is no report or direct evidence of animals dying. But that doesn’t mean they have not been killed,” the officer added. Besides forests, many trees in the villages of Kodagu were also uprooted in the rain and landslides. Said a villager, Bopanna, of Makkandur, “The trees that I had planted and nourished for years, and even those that were planted by my ancestors, were uprooted before my eyes as the hills started to slide. 

Seeing the trees fall, we realised our houses were not safe either and ran out to save ourselves. I can never forget the pain of losing my ancestral home and the trees we had nurtured with such love and care,” he recounted sadly.

Meanwhile, 366 more people returned home from relief centres in Kodagu, leaving only 1,418 people  in 14 relief camps.