Monsoon rains fill Karnataka reservoirs

Bengaluru, June 18 (IANS) Heavy and incessant rains, since the onset of the southwest monsoon in Karnataka this month, have raised water levels in the state's reservoirs, said an official on Monday.

"The water levels in the reservoirs in the Cauvery river basin have gone up due to the rains in the catchment areas over the last fortnight," Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) Director G.S. Srinivasa Reddy told IANS here.

Kabini reservoir in Mysuru district has been filled up to its maximum capacity of 16 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) due to the monsoon rains, and the district authorities have been releasing the excess water back into the river.

The water level of Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) dam in Mandya district has gone beyond 100 feet of its total 124 feet capacity due to the incessant rainfall, Reddy said.

"The water level in KRS dam is the highest it has been in nearly a decade. But the water inflow into these dams in the Cauvery river basin has come down over the past two days as rains have receded," he added.

Copious rains had also sent rivers like Cauvery, Tunga, Bhadra and Netravathi into spate, flooding roads and highways, submerging bridges and causing landslides in the Western Ghats that disrupted train and bus services in coastal, central and Malnad regions of the southern state.

Overall, the districts of the state have recorded an average of 96 per cent excess rainfall in the first fortnight of this month.

According to the data from the India Meteorological Department's Bengaluru centre, coastal and southern districts like Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Bagalkote, Belagavi, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Mysuru, Shivamogga, Hassan and Kodagu have received a large excess of rainfall.

While Ballari, Chamarajanagar and Mandya have received normal rainfall, Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagara and Tumakuru districts have been facing a deficit in rainfall.

The monsoon, which currently has a subdued activity in the state, is expected to have a revival after June 22, when Bengaluru and other surrounding districts are expected to witness the monsoon rains, the weather office said.

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