Mysuru: Rains have subsided in Kodagu district of Karnataka but for the residents of Talacauvery there has been no relief from anxiety. The chief priest of the temple, Narayan Achar continues to be missing.
Five people were missing after massive landslides from the Bahmagiri hills crushed a house in Talacauvery on Thursday. Of these five, rescue personnel have been able to find only one body, that of 86-year-old Anandatheertha Swamy.
When rains eased on Monday, the rescue mission was intensified but all that could be found of the missing family were a few clothes and other belongings.
Chief priest Narayana Achar's daughters Sharada and Namitha have flown home from Australia upon hearing of the peril to their father. Kodagu district minister V Somanna and Mysuru Kodagu MP Pratap Simha met them and urged the rescue teams from the NDRF and SDRF to intensify the search.
Though the rains have subsided and connectivity is getting restored, the situation is nowhere near normal. The Kodagu district administration has estimated damage to 273 houses, and at least 710 people are still living in relief centres.
Somanna told the media that the central government has released Rs 310 crore to the state for disaster management of which 5 crore has been passed on to Kodagu district. Rs 5 lakh will be paid as ex gratia to families of those who have lost their lives in this flooding plus Rs 2 lakh from the PM's Relief Fund.
To add to the district's woes, 15 new Covid 19 cases have been reported in Kodagu district on Monday, taking the total to 741. Of these, 294 cases are still active. There are 210 containment zones in the district.
Kodagu recorded 25.39 mm of rainfall between 8 am on Sunday and 9 am on Monday. The India Meteorological Department has forecast only light to moderate rainfall till 8am on Tuesday.
The Harangi reservoir has been receiving heavy inflows of 9177 cusecs and its level rose to 2855.56 ft as against a maximum of 2859 ft on Monday. Some 2663 cusecs of the flood has been let into the Cauvery leading to the Krishnaraja Sagar dam.
At the latter dam itself, heavy outflows from Harangi plus rains in the Cauvery catchment area have led to levels rising in the dam, which stood at 119.6feet as against a full leve 124.80 feet.
And 25,971 cusecs was released from the KRS into the Cauvery river leading downstream to Tamil Nadu. While a flood alert has been issued to people at downstream of the KRS, vehicular movement on the Wellesley bridge in Srirangpatna has been banned by the Mandya district administration.
