Karnataka: Man feared drowned in low-lying waterlogged area near Hubballi after heavy rains

Dharwad (Karnataka) [India], June 12 (ANI): A man is feared to have drowned after being swept away in a low-lying waterlogged area near Mavanur Road on the outskirts of Hubballi, following heavy rains and strong winds that lashed the region on Wednesday night.
Hubballi taluka Tehsildar Kallangouda Patil spoke to ANI about the incident and said, "A search operation is being conducted by the Fire Services to locate the man. The operation has been ongoing for the last 10 hours. We received around 150 mm of rain last night. Today, the schools in Hubballi are closed. The missing man's slippers were found after he left for his farm on Wednesday after heavy rains."
Heavy waterlogging was reported in several parts of Hubballi, especially in low-lying areas, disrupting traffic and prompting precautionary closures of educational institutions for the day.
Given the red alert issued by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) for Karnataka, Dharwad Deputy Commissioner Divya Prabhu on Thursday declared a day's holiday for all Anganwadis, primary and high schools, PU and degree colleges.
Meanwhile, the IMD has issued a seven-day warning for Karnataka predicting "widespread" rainfall in nearly all districts until June 17.
The Hubballi area in the Dharwad district of Karnataka witnessed torrential rainfall early on Thursday, which caused massive waterlogging in several parts of the district, especially in Hanashi village.
According to the weather department, rainfall will remain widespread in coastal and north interior Karnataka until June 17.
Rainfall will be "fairly widespread" in the districts of south interior Karnataka until June 14 before turning "widespread" for the next three days.
In coastal Karnataka districts, the IMD has forecast "heavy to very heavy rain with sustained wind at 30 to 40 kilometre per hour (kmph), which likely to occur at a few places and extremely heavy rain likely to occur at one or two places over Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and Udupi districts."
In north interior Karnataka, heavy to very heavy rain with sustained wind at 50 to 60 kmph is likely to occur at a few places and extremely heavy rain with sustained wind is likely to occur at one or two places over Belagavi, Dharwad and Gadag districts.
"Heavy rain with sustained wind at 40 to 50 kmph likely to occur at one or two places over Koppal, Haveri, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Kalburgi and Raichur districts. Moderate rain with sustained wind at 40-50 kmph is likely to occur at most places over Bidar and Yadgir districts," IMD said in its report.
In south interior Karnataka, the weather department has predicted heavy to very heavy rain with sustained wind at 50-60 kmph, which are likely to occur at a few places and extremely heavy rain with sustained wind at the same speed is likely to occur at one or two places over Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu districts.
"Heavy rain with sustained wind (40-50 kmph) likely to occur at one or two places over Ballari, Bengaluru (Rural), Bengaluru (Urban), Chikkaballapura, Mandya, Ramanagara, Tumakuru, Mysuru, Davangere, Hassan and Vijayanagar districts. Moderate rain with sustained wind (40-50 kmph) likely to occur at most places over Chamarajanagar, Chitradurga and Kolar districts," IMD said. (ANI)