Heavy rains lash Karnataka

Bengaluru, Aug 29 (IANS) Heavy rains lashed the coastal districts of Karnataka leading to rivers and lakes overflowing, affecting daily life, India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said on Tuesday.

Coastal districts of Kodagu, Udupi and Dakshina Kannada have received "heavy rainfall" measuring up to 11.7 cm, according to IMD officials.

Due to the rain, the roof of a mud house collapsed in Vijayapura town in Bengaluru Rural district, leading to the death of three people.

"In the early hours of Monday, a couple and their baby lost their lives as the roof of their mud house crashed down," an official from Vijayapura's Superintendent of Police office said.

Kodagu, which lies about 250 kms to the west of Bengaluru towards the coast, received a high amount of 11.7 cm rainfall.

"Due to the rains, we have declared a holiday for the schools and colleges in the district," the Deputy Commissioner of Kodagu district Richard Vincent D'Souza told IANS.

"These rains were also much needed to allow Cauvery river to be replenished."

The rains that the state has been receiving are normal and have "no link" to the cloud-seeding that the state government has been undertaking, said IMD Bengaluru Director Sundar M. Metri.

"These rains are due to the low pressure that has developed in the districts. One cannot link it to the cloud-seeding activity that is going on," Metri told IANS.

Due to the lack of rains in the state, the state government launched a cloud-seeding experiment named Project Varshadhari on August 21 in a bid to have rains in the state, which has been witnessing a drought situation.

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