8 die, 3 missing as cyclone Tauktae batters Karnataka coast; 300 homes damaged

BENGALURU: Eight people died, more than 300 houses were damaged, hundreds of people evacuated to safety and dozens of electric poles uprooted as Tauktae — which is turning into a ‘very severe cyclonic storm’ and set to lash Gujarat on Monday morning — tore through the coast of Karnataka on Sunday, unleashing heavy rain in seven districts of the state.
The deceased included a threeyear-old boy and two stranded on a tugboat along the coast.
Officials said they were looking for three people who were on the tugboat that later capsized. At least nine persons were stranded on another tugboat that drifted from anchorage off New Mangalore Port Trust. Indian Coast Guard’s vessel Varaha is monitoring the boat amid 6ft of waves.
Sources said two persons each died in Dakshina Kannada and Belagavi, and one each in Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga, and heavy rain was reported from these and Udupi districts.
In Khanapur taluk of Belagavi district, a 54-year-old woman and her three-year-old grandson died when their house collapsed.
At least 300 houses were damaged in worst-affected Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts. Udupi bore the brunt with 211 houses damaged partially and seven completely. In Dakshina Kannada, 122 houses were partially destroyed and 14 submerged.
Udupi deputy commissioner G Jagadeesha estimated the loss at Rs 69 crore and added that one person was electrocuted in the cyclone. The district has opened 14 rehabilitation centres, besides shifting 60 people from the seashore to their relatives’ houses.
Dakshina Kannada district minister Kota Shrinivas Poojary said 380 people have been evacuated in the past 24 hours. In addition, 63 electric poles, eight transformers and five electric lines were damaged. The district has deployed a 20-member team of National Disaster Response Force and another team of 25 from State Disaster Response Force for search-and-rescue operations. A total of 18 boats and 12 fishing nets were damaged.
In Shivamogga, heavy rain claimed the life of a 42-year-old farmer when a bolt struck him on his farmland in the district. The man’s family will get Rs 5-lakh compensation.
While rain subsided in Kodagu district, an under-construction bridge at Mapilethodu on Ponnampet-Hudikeri road partially collapsed following two days of downpour. Residents of the area and on Cauvery banks have been asked to move to safer places.
Met department says rainfall will be widespread in the state and its intensity in coastal districts will decline in the next 48 hours.