Bengaluru: While the incessant rains pounding in Madikeri region has led to severe flooding and landslides, leaving thousands of people homeless and stranded, the Indian Meterological Department Bengaluru has forecast more rains over Western Ghats in the next two days.
According to a senior IMD officer, coastal Karnataka and Western Ghats will receive more rains in the next couple of days and gradually subside.
“Even the south interior parts of the state will witness rains and all this is due to the trough system and vortex formation in the Arabian Sea. There is also high wind speed prevailing over these regions leading to continuous rains,” he added.
“Over the past couple of weeks, several high and low pressures were formed in the Arabian Sea and due to the wind speed and cloud traveling over these region, has resulted in the heavy rains,” said another IMD official.
Srinivas Reddy, director, Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre said, “During this part of the season, the Western Ghats receive good rainfall, but this time it was excessive, as there was not much rain for the past couple of years. We are assuming that there will be light showers in the next two days, but gradually the downpour will decrease. Already on Saturday, there was a decrease in the rainfall in Madikeri and surrounding areas. As days go by the intensity will come down.”
He said the depletion of green cover is not related to the rain. “But deforestation in Madikeri region has resulted in landslides and loose soil where the roads have given in. It is important to protect the green cover, particularly in these regions, as it would help in holding onto the flowing water and prevent landslides,” he added.
A senior officer from KSNDMC said, “Non-stop rains over the past week have exceeded the usual rainfall. The rampant construction activity in Madikeri and surrounding regions have led to flooding and landslides. For any structure coming up in these regions, several trees will have to be uprooted and this creates loose soil and when there is a downpour, land slides and flooding occur.”
