Belagavi still under water; death toll rises to 12, rains hamper rescue operation

Hubballi: The death toll has risen to 12 in flooded Belagavi district with the body of a contractor, who was washed away in a stream with his car, being found in the Ballari nala on Saturday. The contractor, Jayachandra, was from Andhra Pradesh.

However, with rain continuing to pound the region, rescue operations by helicopters were suspended for several hours in the district. Many towns, including Chincholi, Kudachi, Sadalaga and Sankeshwar, have been flooded and people of many villages in Gadag and Dharwad have been left stranded with water from the overflowing Malaprabha and Benne Halla stream entering them. Around 13 villages have been submerged in Nargund and Ron taluks.

Meanwhile, the Almatti reservoir saw an inflow of over six lakh cusecs on Saturday, the highest it has received since it was built in 2002, due to the heavy rainfall near Mahabaleshwar, where the Krishna originates, in Kolhapur, Sangli and other places in Maharashtra.

The outflow of a record 5.30 lakh cusecs from the dam submerged more villages and inundated standing crops downstream of Vijayapur, Raichur and Yadgir districts.