Incessant rains, a swelling river, overflowing reservoirs, landslides and house collapses have caused six deaths in Kodagu district, with the land of coffee becoming devastated and crying for help.
Heavy rains have made rescue operations daunting as rising water level and landslides have cut off access to marooned villages. For the last three days, distressed families have been perched on rooftops in the layouts in Kushalnagar, and on the hills near Madikeri to save themselves from the rising water level. To make matters worse, massive landslides in the region have claimed lives and damaged property. Many people are feared trapped in their homes as villages are inundated in water and the access roads have caved in.
More than 945 rescue personnel including the Indian Army engineers' task force, surface rescuers from Indian Navy, NDRF, fire force, home guards, civil defence, quick response teams and NCC have moved into the district and have so far rescued more than 3,500 people.
According to disaster management department officials, as many as 1,250 people—including 16 railway staff stuck at Yedakumeri railway station near Sakleshpur, 30 people from Mukkodlu and 347 people stranded in Jodupala—were saved. In all 1,206 houses have been damaged (845 in Kodagu and 361 in Dakshina Kannada). In the last four days, 98 roads, 58 bridges and culverts, 243 government buildings and 3,006 electric poles and transformers have been severely damaged. The roads connecting Bhagamandala, Napoklu and Ayyageri and roads connecting Kushalnagar-Madikeri and Madikeri-Hassan have been blocked due to landslides.
Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who held an emergency meeting of senior officials on Saturday morning, has constituted a high-level committee headed by the chief secretary to prioritise release of funds and monitor the rescue and relief operations.
While an Indian Air Force chopper has been kept on standby, the operation has been stalled due to bad weather. Kumaraswamy is expected to carry out an aerial survey of the district. The district administrations of Kodagu and the coastal districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada have stepped up relief operations and are taking stock of the extent of damage (roads, houses, and crop loss). The district in-charge ministers have rushed to take stock of the situation.
“The overflowing reservoirs in Hassan, Shimoga and Mysuru has caused flooding and led to loss of crops, houses and also lives. But the situation in Kodagu is grave owing to landslides and the rising water levels. We are rushing in the rescue teams and also the relief material to the 70 relief camps set up across the flood-affected districts. Kodagu alone has 31 relief centres, where more than 2,250 people have been camping,” Kumaraswamy said.
“For people who lost their homes, the government will immediately release compensation of Rs 2 lakh to rebuild homes. For people who have lost their Aadhaar and ration cards, our officers will issue provisional documents for disbursal of compensation. Besides, compensation of Rs 5 lakh will be given to the family of the deceased,” said Kumaraswamy, who is scheduled to inspect the affected areas.
While NGOs too have mobilised volunteers and are moving in relief material to the camps, disruption of telephone lines and electricity supply has made relief operations difficult. The Kodava Samaj volunteers in Bengaluru and Mysuru are working as nerve centres for collecting relief material from people.