This story is from September 11, 2020

Mangaluru: Rain causes havoc in low-lying areas; 150 houses waterlogged; 7 cars buried under debris

Mangaluru: Rain causes havoc in low-lying areas; 150 houses waterlogged; 7 cars buried under debris
Mayor Diwakar inspects damages to the houses due to rain in Jappinamogeru area of Mangaluru city on Friday.
MANGALURU: Moderate to heavy rains that pounded the city from Thursday night left low lying areas in knee deep water. More than 150 houses in the city’s low lying areas were waterlogged; a few house compound walls collapsed in Alape and seven cars were buried under the debris after a retaining wall of an apartment crashed on them at Derebail on Friday.
The severity of the rain can be gauged from the fact that Mangaluru taluk received 210 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours from Thursday till 8.30am of Friday.
The average rainfall for the District was 79mm and Bantwal taluk received the next highest rainfall of 88mm, followed by Belthangady at 73mm.

The severity of rain was particularly felt in Jappinamogeru and Kottara Chowki areas of the city which were in knee deep waters. Many residents voluntarily shifted to safer places after water inundated ground floors of the buildings. Those who had first floor shifted to the upper floors. Though the Mangaluru City Corporation had cleared all the drains and storm drains of all debris and silt, these areas being low lying saw waters gush into their houses. Kodialbail West also saw water on the roads as the storm water drain overflowed with relentless rains from Thursday. But after 2 pm, the rains abated and water levels went down in the affected areas giving relief to people.
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An elderly woman being carried to safety by volunteers in Jappinamogeru area of Mangaluru on Friday.
Mayor Diwakar, who visited the affected places supervising rescue and relief, said the effect was prominent in Jappinamogeru area where at least 150 houses were waterlogged and about 50 to 60 persons were shifted to Maratha Bhavan nearby with the help of Fire Department personnel using rubber dinghies.
District Fire Officer Mohammed Nawaz Zulfikar told TOI the collapse of a retaining wall of an apartment building at Derebail damaged several vehicles. He said they could not ascertain the exact numbers of vehicles under the debris since they could not approach the site to clear the debris as the rest of the portion of the wall was dangerously close to collapsing. ``As per CCTV footage, no one is injured and the building is safe,’’ he said. City corporation commissioner Akshy Sridhar, Mangaluru tahsildar Guruprasad and other officials visited the spot to assess the damage.

Later in the evening, Chief Fire Officer B Tippeswamy said that the apartment complex, Ground +12 structure, was safe, but all residents have been evacuated as per Deputy Commissioner’s orders. ``They will only be allowed after a safety audit,’’ he added. He said seven cars in the parking lot were buried under the debris and the retaining wall was still unstable.
Mayor said about four compound walls had collapsed in Shivanagar of Alape area due to constant rain. Regarding the reason for inundation in low lying areas, Diwakar said the continuous rain from Thursday left little place for water to go. ``We had cleared drains and storm water drains this year identifying vulnerable spots, but the constant rain had caused this problem. Even if the rain relents for an hour, much of the waters would recede giving citizens’ relief,’’ he added. Deputy Commissioner and others visited Jappinamogeru area to assess the situation.
KSNMDC predicted that scattered to widespread light to moderate rains with isolated heavy to extremely heavy rains was likely over Dakshina Kannada, Udupi districts and up to heavy rains likely over Uttara Kannada district. Warning fishermen, the bulletin stated that high waves in the range of 2.5 - 3.3 meters were forecast along the coast of Karnataka from Mangaluru to Karwar.
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