Bantwal: Losses amounting to lakhs were suffered when heavy rains accompanied by thunder and lightning lashed Bantwal on Thursday night. A house, a temple and several electric poles were damaged in the rain and the loss is estimated to be around Rs 10 lakhs.
The drainage on B C Road opened up and the water flowed into the nearby shops.

Houses in Badagakajekaru, Kavalamudur, Balthila, Panemangaluru, Punacha, Mani, Arala, Panjikallu, Tenkakajekaru, Navoor, Moodupadukodi and Punjalakatte were damaged.

A house belonging to Puttumonu near Baramelu was damaged due to lightning. Supply of electricity has been completely cut off. However, no causalities have been reported.

A meter board at Karla Shri Krishna Temple in Tenkajajemaru was completely burnt damaging a portion of the wall. A person named Chethan from Karla quarters was injured due to lightning and fell unconscious. He was immediately shifted to a nearby hospital. Gram panchayath president Vajra Poojary visited his house and collected information from the officials.

Another house in Kavalamudur belonging to Sanjeeva Acharya was damaged. In Belthangady taluk, a house belonging to Savitha from Kukkala village was also damaged. In Moodupadukody village, Chandrashekhara Gowda’s house was damaged and his wife who was in shock due to thunder and lightning was shifted to hospital. Houses of Narayana Bhandary, Padmavathi, Mohmmed, Kusuma were damaged. In Navoor village, Venkappa Moolya’s house got partially damaged due to heavy showers. Zilla panchayath member B Padmashekhar Jain visited the damaged houses and directed the officials to take relief measures. Revenue officials have also visited the affected areas and have estimated the loss.

In Balthila, a house belonging to Eshwara Naik was damaged and the loss is estimated at around Rs 1.5 lakhs. Devaki from Panjikallu village, Kusuma and Juliana Lobo from Arala village, Haneef from Mani, and Hameed from Balthila are few of the houses owners whose houses got damaged in the ordeal.

The MESCOM has suffered a huge loss due to heavy showers as many electric poles got uprooted in more than 20 places in the taluk. In Neralekatte, a tree was uprooted and fell on the transformer which disrupted electricity.

Due to heavy showers in Subramanya, Hassan, Sakleshpura and other places the water level in the Nethravathi river has increased. The water level in Thumbe dam was 5ft on Friday. If the rains continue to pour down like this, the water crisis of Mangaluru city might be solved sooner.