Karnataka floods: 8 missing persons remain untraced in Kodagu

MADIKERI: Though the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and local authorities have started a search to locate eight persons missing from Tora in Kodagu, they’ve not been able to locate them. The eight persons from three different families went missing when they were being evacuated to safer places on Friday afternoon.
It’s been drizzling through the day and that’s hampering rescue and relief measures at various places.As the Cauvery is overflowing at Kushalnagar, the Mysuru-Madikeri traffic was diverted at Periyapatna via Siddapura leading to a blockade. The control room at Madikeri got 18 calls from persons in distress as flood water entered their homes. Like last year, several hotels and resorts are providing free shelter and food to affected people.
Superintendent of police Suman D Pannekar said: “Dog squads and metal detectors are being used to search for the missing persons. The NDRF team has stopped searching at evening but local youths are still on the job.”
The district administration in Tora village continues to insist the toll is two persons persons and the postmortem was conducted on Mamatha and her daughter Likhitha on Saturday. Mamatha’s husband Paramesh on Friday sensed a landslide and he took his daughter with him and shouted to his wife to come out of the house. Likhitha and Paramesh fled the house. Likhitha told her father that she had forgotten something kept in the almirah and went inside. A huge tree came crashing down on the house, killing both mother and daughter.
Kushalanagar has been cut off from other places, except for one path leading to Harangi. According to resident and Kodagu Hotel Owner’s Association’s president Nagendra Prasad, “The people of Kushalanagar are stunned by this devastation two years in a row. We cannot survive if the government doesn’t give us exemption from GST and waive the interest on loans. Nearly 1,000 houses are damaged in Kushalnagar.”
KP Chandrakala, zilla panchayat member and resident of Kushalnagar, said: “We have lost hope.” Dawood, a hotelier, said: “We have left our establishments to the flood and are living in our relative’s house which is not affected by the flood.”
According to residents, last year it was Harangi water which covered the town. This year, it is Cauvery water which has flooded Kushalnagar. Cauvery’s inflow from Siddapur and Bhagamandala is very high. Resorts like Maharaja, Crown in Koppa Road are flooded as is the tourist centre ‘Nisargadhama’. Some relief centres have been opened in Vasavi Mahal and Valmiki Bhavan in Kushalnagar.