It’s after over a decade all the four reservoirs in the Cauvery basin in Karnataka are full due to early monsoon and heavy rainfall across the basin. River Cauvery and its tributaries are in spate the authorities have declared a flood alert along Cauvery and Hemavathi. Many villages in Mandya district, the heart land of Cauvery where the world famous KRS dam is located has been living in fear over flood alert.
The release of over one lakh cusecs of water daily from the Cauvery basin reservoirs has gushing waters creating havoc across the banks before it reaches Tamil Nadu. The coalition Government of the JDs and Congress captained by Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy can heave a sigh of relief as this reduces the tension between warring states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over sharing of waters.
According to officials of Irrigation department this much of water was relased for the first time after 1992. The Krishna Raja Sagara(KRS) dam has reached the 122.77 ft against its full level of 124.8 feet with more than 60000 cusecs of water is been released daily to Tami Nadu.
The gushing waters in the basin has erased a slice of heritage as one of the bridges in the region dating back to 1881 was washed away in the floods of Cauvery. A portion of the bridge which is called Ramaswamy Mudaliar bridge has been washed away as the rain fury continues to cause havoc. It has also submerged temples, a bird sanctuary and many villages on its course to reach mettur dam in Tamil Nadu. The national disaster rescue force, fire and emergency services, home guards and civil defence forces have been kept ready for any eventualities. Entry of visitors to the Ranganthitu bird sanctuary on the banks of Cauvery in Srirangapatna has been barred.
Flood warnings have been issued in western districts of Tamil Nadu, including Dharmapuri and Salem districts. People living in low-lying areas of Mettur dam in Tamil Nadu have been asked to move to higher places along with their livestock.
According to IMC Coastal and South Interior Karnataka is likely to get very heavy rainfall over the next five years even as rains continued to pound other parts the State.
India Meteorological Centre (IMC) here in its bulletin on Tuesday said South West Monsoon has been active over Interior Karnataka and very heavy rainfall was reported in Bhagamandala in Kodagu District (14 cm) and Augumbe (13 cm).
Following heavy rain in the catchment areas of river Krishna in neighbouring Maharashtra the inflow into Almatti dam had increased significantly and water was overflowing a bridge constructed by Britishers— Kudachi-Ugara bridge connecting Maharashtra with Karnataka and movement of vehicle was not possible.
Continuation of very heavy rainfall during the next five days was predicted in Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada, Udupi Districts of Coastal Karnataka, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Kodagu and Shivamogga in South Interior Karnataka. In Belgavavi District following heavy discharge from Koyna reservoir many rivers are overflowing and bridges are marooned in Chikkodi Sub-Division.
Continuing rains was hampering rescue and repair works. Many villages in rain affected areas are continuing to be under dark following power supply disruption.