Following heavy rain in the district this week, officials have issued flood alert to farmers living on the banks of the Malaprabha.
An alert issued by the Assistant Commissioner’s office asks farmers to shift to higher altitude as heavy rain in Belagavi and Khanapur taluks are likely to push up water level in the river. The Naviluteertha dam on the Malaprabha near Saundatti has 12 tmcft of water as against its total capacity of 37 tmcft. A flood in the Malaprabha would affect villages in Belagavi, Bagalkot and Gadag districts. The flood caused by heavy rain and discharge from Maharashtra, in August last year affected over 112 villages on the banks of the Malaprabha.
A national disaster response force team of 40 persons has descended in Yadur on the banks of the Krishna river near Chikkodi. The team members will go around villages and study the course of the river and other relevant issues, revenue officers said.
As against the annual aggregated average of 10 mm, the district has received 38 mm of rain in the first five days of June. This is 270% higher than the average.
Officials however, clarified that there was no need for panic. “This is just an alert and not a warning,” said Assistant Commissioner Ravindra Karalingannavarr. We have asked farmers to move to higher planes, stop cultivating crops in low-lying areas and pull out all their irrigation pumpsets from the river bed.
The NDRF team is here as part of the precautionary measure. They are studying the situation and will help as the pre-emptive team for other NDRF or SDRF teams that may land in case of floods.
Maharashtra officials have told us that they have only an average of 10% water stored in the 14 reservoirs on the Krishnariver. Water levels in the reservoirs in Karnataka are also less. There is no need to worry as of now, he said. According to him, the first round of meeting of officials from Maharashtra and Karnataka for exchange of information has been conducted. There will be a meeting of Water Resources Ministers soon. That will decide the future course of action,” he said.
Flood in the Krishna and Malaprabha plains in Belagavi and Bagalkot district left nearly 40 persons dead and crops on lakhs of hectares of land destroyed. The discharge from Maharashtra crossed 600 tmcft of water and rainfall in the two districts was around 2,500 mm in 100 days.
