The unprecedented heavy rain in September has claimed four lives in Bidar district. One person died in Udbal on the night of September 15. Three others, including a six-month old baby, died since Thursday.
The rain has caused widespread losses. Over 1,260 houses have been damaged or collapsed. They include 600 houses in Aurad taluk, 490 houses in Bhalki, 100 in Bidar and 50 in Humnabad taluks.
As many as 19 bridges were under water and five tanks were breached. The tank in Hakyal developed cracks, though it did not breach. Officials from the Public works Department say that at least 110 villages have been cut off from the main land. They estimate the infrastructure losses to be above Rs. 150 crore.
GESCOM officials say at least 250 electric poles have collapsed or shifted position. At least 24 transformers have been damaged as a result of leakage, snapping of wires or shifting of base poles, an engineer said. A loss estimation would be carried out soon, he said.
Above average rainfall
The month of September witnessed 470 mm of rainfall, more than half of the annual average. In four days, the district received 140 mm of rain, 25 per cent of the annual average and four times the rainfall recorded in an average year for the same period.
The zilla panchayat officials shifted 801 persons to gruel centres. These include 619 in Bhatambra in Bhalki taluk, 147 in Gorta in Basava Kalyan taluk and 35 in Hosa Sangvi village in Bidar taluk. “With the reduction in rainfall on Sunday, people are leaving the shelters. We will keep them open,” additional deputy commissioner D. Shanmukh said.
Crop loss
Agriculture officials are saying crops on at least 75,000 hectares of land have been damaged. Soya, that has the largest acreage, has suffered the largest loss. Encouraged by high prices in recent years, farmers cultivated it on 1.4 lakh hectares. Officials are saying that at least 45,000 hectares of soya crop may have been damaged. Around 18,000 hectares of red gram, around 5,000 hectares of jowar and around 2,000 hectares of black gram and around 10,000 hectares of other crops have been damaged, Deputy Commissioner Anurag Tewari said. However, soya is a resilient crop and can bounce back if there is a dry spell for a week, K. Ziaullah, joint director of agriculture, said.
A team from the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) visited villages on Sunday. Hanchate Sanjiv Kumar, DLSA chairman, met Dayanand Manohar, a farmer whose six-month-old baby died in Nideban village in Bhalki taluk as they could not reach a hospital in time. The judge instructed the district health and family welfare officer to post a doctor or a para medical officer in the assistant nursing matron centre in the village.
Rescue operation
DLSA has set up a helpline. People can submit a grievance by calling on 9739738700. Two teams of the National Disaster Response Force visited villages in Bhalki taluk. They will join hands with the police in shifting people to safe places, Mr. Tewari said.
