The non-stop rains that have been lashing Kalaburagi district for a week now have disrupted normal life, especially in the rural areas along the Kagina and its tributary streams.
With several bridges across the Kagina and its tributaries submerged, the connectivity between villages and towns has been cut for the last three days.
All the routes that connect Sedam town with Kalaburagi city have been cut. The submergence of Malkhed bridge across Kagina has cut the key connectivity.
Hundreds of trucks transporting goods between Mumbai and Chennai, and Kalaburagi and Hyderabad were found parked near toll plazas on either side of the bridge for the last three days.
“I have driven my truck from Mumbai and need to go to Chennai. I have been stuck here for the last three days owing to the rain-caused road blockage. We are not finding even food here. The nearby hotels are overcharging. We are desperately hoping for road clearance,” a driver, who parked his truck at GVR Toll Plaza near Madbol said.
The premises of Uttaradi Mutt on the bank of the Kagina near Malkhed has been flooded for the last three days. The river’s rising water level was posing a threat to villages, such as Samakhed and Dandoti, close to the river.
Large tracts of lands with standing crops, especially green gram, black gram and red gram, continue to be flooded.
“The rains had already destroyed half of the crops. Some could harvest the green gram, though the yield was drastically reduced. The black gram could not be harvested. It is rotting in the flooded fields,” a farmer from Dandoti village said on Friday.
The fresh downpour in Sedam on Friday morning, about 133 mm, has flooded several houses in low-lying localities such as Basavanagar, Indra Nagar, Chotigini, Aggi Basaveshwar Colony, Ashraya Colony, and Kodla Cross.
The rainwater also flooded the Sedam police station and destroyed the computers and other office material. The temple of Kottala Basaveshwara, the popular deity in the town, was also flooded.
