Rivers overflow, bridges submerged, 18 villages cut off
A submerged bridge on River Krishna in Belagavi district.
BELAGAVI
As incessant rains continue to wreak havoc in Belagavi and the western Maharashtra region for the third consecutive day, the taluka administration has asked motorists and commuters to avoid the Khanapur-Goa route via Hemadaga.
Authorities have warned that the Haltar river is flowing above the danger mark and the bridge on this route is likely to be inundated at any time.
Meanwhile, all six rivers in the district have crossed the danger mark while eight low-lying bridges have been submerged.
Incessant rains in the Jamboti and Kankumbi areas too have caused flooding of River Malaprabha, while the Kalsa, Bhandura and Haltar nullahs are flooded, cutting off contact to a few villages in the Bhimgarh Wildlife periphery.
Life along the river banks has been disrupted as access to as many as 18 villages has been cut off due to the inundated low-lying bridges.
On the other side, bridges between Akkol-Sidnal, Jatrat-Bhivashi, Bharawad-Kunnur across Vedaganga, and Karadaga-Boj, Bojwad-Kunnur and Malikwad-Dattawad across the Doodhaganga river were inundated. The Eksamba-Dattawad, Kallol-Yadur and Bavanasoudatti-Manjari bridges across River Krishna have also submerged.
All the 18 villages that have lost connectivity are from Chikkodi taluka neighbouring Belagavi district.
To maintain the water level in Markandeya dam in Belagavi taluka, 4,000 cusecs of water was released on Monday night, which was later increased to 5,500 cusecs on Tuesday.
To maintain the water level, 9,000 cusecs of water was released into River Malaprabha, which was 4,000 cusecs more than the amount released on Monday.
All the water reservoirs in the district, including Renuka Sagar on River Malaprabha, have reached their capacity, resulting in the release of a huge quantity of water into the river basin.
