Mounesh Vishwakarma
Daijiworld Media Network – Bantwal
Bantwal, July 26: A violent spell of heavy rain and strong winds on Friday night wreaked havoc across Bantwal taluk, damaging houses, flattening crops, uprooting trees, and disrupting power supply in several areas. Losses have been reported from various villages, affecting both public infrastructure and private property.
In Vittal, rain-triggered soil erosion caused a retaining wall to collapse in front of a house located in Panchajanya Layout near Nethrakere on the Salethur road. The house is now in a dangerous state.
Across several parts of Bantwal Town Municipality and nearby villages, the storm uprooted trees, damaging homes and blocking roads. In Barekadu Ashraya Colony of B. Kasba village, the roofs, rafters and cement sheets of two houses were blown away and scattered by the wind.
In Banglegudde, Panemangalore, the compound wall near Abdul Razak’s house collapsed due to the downpour. Fortunately, no casualties occurred, although property loss was estimated in thousands of rupees.
In Talapady, B Mood village, a tree fell on the house of Abdul Hameed, causing structural damage. Bantwal Municipal Council President B. Vasu Poojary Loretto visited the site and inspected the damage.
Farmers were among the worst-hit. In Kuriyala village, more than 1,000 areca nut trees were flattened by the winds. Farmers affected include Mayilkodi Henry Crasta, Lawrence D’Costa, Satish Shetty, Ranjith Shetty, and Jayaram Shetty from Kundabettu, Thenka Belluru. Losses were also reported in Nodaje. Coconut and other trees were also damaged, with some falling onto electric poles and breaking them. Banana plantations were flattened.
Already dealing with crop rot due to continuous rain, farmers now face massive economic losses with lacs of rupees worth of areca trees destroyed.
Power supply was badly hit across the taluk. In Mittaperaje, Peraje village, a tree fell on a power pole, cutting electricity to nearby homes. In Eliyanadugodu, a tree fell on Shanta Poojary’s house, causing partial damage. Power poles were damaged in several places, causing widespread outages.
A WagonR car was crushed under a fallen tree in Kepu village, though passengers escaped without injury. In Kallangala, two large trees fell across the state highway, completely halting traffic. Police, forest, revenue, Mescom and gram panchayat officials arrived at the spot and, with local help, cleared the road.
In Devasya, Vittal Kasba, a mango tree fell on a rental house belonging to Saraswati. The residents were moved to a relative’s house. In Kukkebettu, Kepu, a tree fell on the house of Sushila, and in Pariyaltadka, Punacha, Ramesh Naik’s house was also damaged.
In Kodangekodi, Narikombu, a tree collapsed onto Leelavati Poojary’s cowshed, injuring some cattle. In Jatankere, Pilimogaru, a tree damaged the home of Sharada Naik. In Pilichamundi Gudde, Kanyana, Krishna Naik’s house was partially damaged. Khateejamma’s house in Nehru Nagar, Narikombu, and Azeez’s residence in Baltile also suffered rain and wind-related damage.
In Nethrakere, Vittal Kasba, the retaining wall in front of Shivaprasad’s house collapsed. A tree also fell on Shanta Poojary’s house in Eliyanadugodu, partially damaging it.
In Golikatte, Kanyana, a tree fell across the Kanyana–Bayaru PWD road, blocking traffic. Locals removed the tree and restored the road.
In Sorampalla, Manila, a tree fell on an electric pole near an Anganwadi centre, damaging its roof. In Neerkaje, Kepu, a tree fell on the cowshed of Padmanabha Acharya, causing structural damage.
Rainfall reduced during the day on Saturday, and according to the taluk administration, the Nethravathi river was flowing at 6.9 metres in the morning and began to recede slightly by evening.