84 school buildings, 39 anganwadi centers partially damaged in torrential rain

Even as Kodagu received 458.5 mm rain in the last one week, the forecast for the next 24 hours indicated an orange alert and the district authorities are keeping a close watch on the rain situation. The local authorities cleared roadblocks caused by fallen trees and electric poles following heavy rains with gusty winds in several parts of the district.

Based on the previous experiences of handling the flood situation in Kodagu, the administration has identified 44 villages as “vulnerable” to floods and another 43 villages prone to landslides. All five taluks are rain-affected with about 580 persons so far affected by the rain fury.

The district administration has told the local administrations in the taluks to extend all possible assistance to the rain-affected and persuade the people in “unsafe” zones to shift to the relief camps for safety reasons.

Meanwhile, compensation has been paid to 76 families whose houses were damaged in the rain. Out of 180 houses damaged in the rain till date, 4 were fully damaged, 33 severely damaged and 143 partially damaged.

Out of 1,378 damaged electric poles, a total of 1,175 have been replaced by the CESC personnel besides replacing 132 transformers.

As many as 39 anganwadi centres were partially damaged besides 84 school buildings across Kodagu.

With regard to the damage to road infrastructure, 437-km long roads, maintained by the Panchayat Raj Engineering Department, have been damaged in the rain and landslides and the cost of repairing them has been estimated at ₹70.62 crore. The PWD-maintained roads of 9.47 km length that were damaged in the rain would require about ₹24.60 crore for the repair.

Kodagu recorded 1,116.3 mm rain in a span of 45 days – from June 1 till date. The district received 65.8 mm rain in the last 24 hours.

So far, 49 bridges under PRED (Panchayat Raj Engineering Department), 8 bridges under PWD, 123 culverts under PRED have been damaged due to incessant rain and 437-km long roads maintained by the PRED were damaged due to torrential downpour and landslides in parts of Kodagu since the onset of the monsoon.

As many as 122 families displaced by the rains have taken shelter in five relief camps. The district administration has identified a few more locations for converting them into relief camps for accommodating the displaced if the situation demanded based on the rain conditions.

Madikeri, Napoklu, Somwarpet, Kodlipet, Kushalnagar, Shanivarasanthe, Shanthalli, Suntikoppa, Virajpet, Ammatti, Hudikeri and Sriramangala have been recording heavy rains. As many as 23 houses were partially damaged in the rain havoc since Thursday besides 103 electric poles.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> India> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / July 15th, 2022