Karnataka: Rainfall continues in coast; major landslide inside Kudremukh National Park

MANGALURU: For the third day in a row the three coastal districts of Karnataka received heavy to moderate rains. While it was heavy in Udupi, the rainfall was moderate in Dakshina Kannada(DK) and Uttara Kannada Districts on Monday. Like Sunday the continuous rain saw many low lying areas, houses near river banks, agricultural fields, inundated in all the three districts, but severity was more in Udupi district.
There was a major landslide inside the Kudremukh National Park at Alladakadu, Belthangady taluk, about 70 kms from Mangaluru. Fortunately the landslide site is far away from inhabited land and it is estimated that the landslide has occurred in over six acres of land. The incident came to light after villagers saw slushy water flowing in the rivulets and informed the authorities. Tehsildar Mahesh J said that the landslide was about three km away from inhabited area and there was danger to people.
In Dakshina Kannada, in the last 24 hours a total of 230 persons (102 males and 128 females, including children) were shifted to relief camps. The crop loss is yet to be estimated. In the last 24 hours in DK, five houses have been damaged completely and 20 partially, according to the district bulletin. Even in Udupi there was damage to houses and property, but the damage was yet to be estimated.
In the Coast, Udupi received the highest amount of rainfall at 127mm, followed by Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada at 73mm each. The highest rainfall in the state on Monday was recorded at three places in Udupi district like on Sunday. While 284 mm was recorded at Nada, 268 mm was recorded at Balkuru, both in Kundapur Taluk. Bammarabetta, Udupi Taluk recorded 264 mm of rainfall.
The rainfall Uttara Kannada district received in the last 24 hours was 152% more than the average rainfall that the district recorded for the day. Similarly, Udupi district received 222% excess amount of rainfall and for DK, it was 132 excess than the average recorded for the day. The water levels in the rivers have gone down drastically. While Nethravathi River at Bantwal was 2.5 meters below danger level of 8.5 meters, Nethravathi River at Uppinangady was four meters below the danger mark, so was Kumaradhara River at Uppinangady.
KSNMDC bulletin stated that high waves in the range of 2.8 - 3.1 meters were forecast till 11.30pm on Tuesday along the coast of Karnataka from Mangaluru to Karwar. Strong wind with speeds reaching 50-60 kmph was also likely to prevail along and off Karnataka coast; the bulletin stated warning fishermen not to venture into these seas. The rain prediction stated that the Coastal districts would have widespread moderate to heavy rains associated with strong surface winds and scattered very heavy to extremely heavy rains over Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts.