Hubballi: Maha floods bring Belagavi to its knees, no let up in rain, 3 dead

Hubballi: The flood situation has worsened in North Karnataka with the release of more water from Koyna reservoir in Maharashtra with the heavy rain since the last ten days in Belagavi district totally throwing normal life out of gear.

Vehicular movement on the Pune-Bengaluru Golden Quadrilateral Road has been stopped as the bridge and National Highway-4  in Yamagarani village near Nippani town in Belagavi are flooded with water from the Vedaganga river. Due to this, road connectivity between Kolhapur and Belagavi has been cut off, causing severe hardship to travellers. A long line of vehicles stretching for several kilometres can be seen on both sides of the flooded bridge.

Heavy vehicles carrying goods to Chennai and Mumbai are forced to stop on service roads. Fire brigade personnel have been deployed to carry passengers from one side of the bridge to the other braving 5-6 feet deep flood water on the highway.

The Markandeya river has submerged the bridge across the NH near Kakati village on the outskirts of Belagavi. Many passengers, who travel frequently between Belagavi and Kolhapur, are stranded due to the flood. Cracks have  appeared on the NH at Shirol village near Kolhapur forcing officials to suspend movement of the vehicles between Karnataka and Maharashtra until the repair work is completed.

Meanwhile, three people died in Belagavi district due to collapse of a house wall and in other rain-related incidents. One person was washed away in the flood at Hulagbali village near Athani. Almost all the villages situated on the river banks in Athani taluk are submerged.

Incessant rain and landslides at Chorla Ghat in Khanapur taluk has cut-off road connectivity between Belagavi and Goa. Thousands of people have been trapped at Naganur, Kurli and other villages in Nippani taluk, which have turned into islands.

The bridge between Daddi village of Hukkeri taluk and Chandagad town of Kolhapur district is submerged.

Deputy Commissioner S.B. Bommanahalli said 27 gruel centres have been opened in the flood-hit areas in the district to provide temporary shelter to victims.