The Western Ghats and the Krishna River basin's catchment areas saw continuous, heavy rain, filling the Lal Bahadur Shastri Water Reservoir.
Published Jul 21, 2023 | 11:12 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 21, 2023 | 11:13 PM
Nippani taluka administration has suspended the traffic on one of the bridges as Krishna River is in full spate. (Supplied)
The farming community in North Karnataka can breathe a sigh of relief as the region has experienced continuous rainfall over the past four days, resulting in a remarkable 113 percent excess rain over the past week.
However, the situation is quite different in the districts of South Karnataka, where the monsoon has been deficient, with a recorded 48 percent shortage during the same one-week period.
Similarly, the Malnad and Coastal regions have also faced challenges, with a deficit of 12 percent and 7 percent in rains, respectively.
As a response to the weather conditions, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert for Belagavi and a yellow alert for 12 other districts, including Koppal, Kalaburagi, Dharwad, Raichur, Uttara Kannada, and Shivamogga.
The Western Ghats and catchment areas of the Krishna River basin have been experiencing continuous and heavy rainfall, leading to a significant rise in the inflow of water into the Lal Bahadur Shastri Water Reservoir (Almatti Dam).
Meanwhile, schools and colleges were declared closed in parts of the Shivamogga and Yadgir districts on Friday.
The incessant rains, in the last four days, have brought smiles back to the faces of North Karnataka’s populace, offering a glimmer of optimism for a bountiful monsoon ahead.
(1/2)ಮುಂದಿನ 3 ದಿನಗಳವರೆಗೆ ಮೋಡ, ಸಾಪೇಕ್ಷ ಆರ್ದ್ರತೆ, ಮಳೆ, ತಾಪಮಾನ ಮತ್ತು ಗಾಳಿಯ ಧಿಕ್ಕು ಹಾಗೂ ವೇಗದಂತಹ ಗ್ರಾಮ ಪಂಚಾಯತ್ ಮಟ್ಟದ ಮುನ್ಸೂಚನೆ
Gram Panchayat level Forecast -Cloudiness, Relative Humidity, Rainfall, Temperature & Wind speed & direction for the next 3 days pic.twitter.com/BQmAoWvhZX— Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (@KarnatakaSNDMC) July 21, 2023
In what seemed like an ominous start to the monsoon season, the parched region experienced a worrisome absence of rainfall during the first one-and-a-half months since the onset of the monsoon.
The early stages of the monsoon in North Karnataka had been marked by disappointment and uncertainty, as the region experienced an alarming scarcity of rainfall.
According to the Karnataka Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), the North Karnataka region experienced a significant increase in rainfall over the last week.
The total rainfall recorded was 60.44 mm, which surpasses the traditional rainfall of 28.3 mm during the same period.
All 13 districts in the region reported an excess of rainfall compared to their usual patterns. Kalaburagi witnessed the highest increase, with a staggering 257 percent surplus rainfall.
Bidar followed closely with a recorded excess of 174 percent, while the Yadgir, Belagavi, Vijayapura, and Gadag districts received over 100 percent more rain than their average.
On the other hand, Ballari and Vijayanagar experienced only a slight rise above normal rainfall, with a surplus of 1 and 3 percent, respectively. Despite the overall surplus in rainfall, the situation in these areas remained relatively stable.
As Ghataprabha, Malaprabha, Krishna, and other rivers are in full spate in Belagavi, many bridges in the Chikkodi region have been submerged. The local administration has suspended traffic on such bridges.
However, flooding has not been reported in any village.
North Karnataka has seen a remarkable increase in rainfall, leading to varying degrees of surplus across the districts, which could have implications for local communities and water resources.
The continuous rainfall in the Western Ghats and the catchment areas of the Krishna River basin has resulted in a significant increase in the inflow to the water reservoirs in the area.
The inflow to Almatti Dam surged by nearly 10 times in the span of one week.
According to the officials of Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited: “The Almatti dam recorded an inflow of 96,805 cusecs on Friday evening. The outflow stands at 5,000 cusecs.”
They added: “The water storage level has increased to 41.036tmc against the maximum capacity of 123.01tmc. A week ago, the inflow was a mere 8,327 cusecs and the outflow was 561 cusecs. The water storage was 23.715tmc. The water levels had reached alarming levels in the first week of July.”
Hidkal Dam, built across the Ghataprabha River, is receiving an inflow of over 23,948 cusecs and witnessing an outflow of a mere 98 cusecs.
The Navilteerth Dam, built across the Malaprabha River, has recorded an inflow of 7,509 cusecs and an outflow of 194 cusecs.
Both these reservoirs reached dead-storage levels in mid-July. This led to severe drinking water scarcity in Dharwad, Bagalkot, Belagavi, and parts of Gadag.
In the first week of July, the reservoirs in the Krishna basin had only 17 percent water left. Now, water storage has been increased to 27 percent.
It may be noted that even nearly two months after the onset of monsoon in Karnataka, none of the reservoirs have filled to the brim.
In the Cauvery basin, the Krishna Raja Sagara (KRS) Dam has water storage of 16.19tmc against the total capacity of 49.45tmc.
The Kabini reservoir has water storage of 13.15tmc against a total capacity of 19.52tmc.
The Hemavathi dam has recorded water storage of 17.94tmc against the maximum storage capacity of 37.10tmc.
The reservoirs in the Cauvery basin had water storage of 47 percent on Friday.
The recent rains triggered a sense of relief and joy among the farming community in North Karnataka.
Farmers are hopeful that this renewed spell of rain would aid in rejuvenating their crops and replenishing the depleted water bodies, ensuring a healthier harvest season.
The agricultural activities are on in full swing in Gadag, Dharwad, Belagavi, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Koppal, Haveri and the remaining districts in the region. The farmers are sowing green gram, onion, chilly, maize, cotton, tur-dal, sunflower and other crops.
The farming activities had come to a halt in June and the first 10 days in the month of July due to poor spells.
“We were worried that we might suffer crop loss due to poor rains in June. However, the recent rains have distanced all the worries as crops are in good condition. We are hoping for a good harvest season this year,” Basavaraj Pujari, a farmer and resident of Kundgol taluka of Dharwad district, told South First.
“There are no heavy showers but receiving continuous rains in the last four days. If the rain continues at the same pace, we will have a good yield in the kharif season. I have sown green gram, onion and chilly and all the three crops are in good condition,” Muttanna Goudar, a farmer and a resident of Gadag, told South First.
However, most of the districts in South Karnataka and the Malnad region are facing deficient rainfall, which is a cause for concern among the farmers.
“We have witnessed very poor rainfall this monsoon in the Malnad region. The farming activities have been delayed almost by a month this season. With good rains in the last week, the farming activities have picked up across the region,” Ranjith K, farmer and resident of Chikkamagaluru told South First.
