Bengaluru: With 9 people dead, 44,000 people evacuated from flood-hit areas and the state staring at a massive humanitarian crisis, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, currently on a tour of rain devastated north Karnataka, sent out a SOS appealing to people to donate generously as Rs 5,000 crore would be required for relief operations.
The opposition Congress demanded that the Centre should declare the floods a national calamity.
The CM who is camping in the worst-hit Belagavi district, said four teams have been formed to supervise relief operations. The floods could worsen with five lakh cusecs of water set to be released from the upstream Koyna dam in Maharashtra.
Meanwhile the Kabini reservoir in Mysuru is just two feet away from its maximum level and a flood alert has been issued.
