Rain floods Mangaluru, 4 dead; schools in DK, Udupi shut

coastaldigest.com news network

May 29, 2018

Mangaluru, May 29: Heavy rain on Tuesday claimed four lives in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi and crippled traffic in Mangaluru as roads were inundated.

As a precaution, the district administration has declared holidays for schools and colleges in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district on Wednesday. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday instructed officials to ensure all possible assistance in rain-affected areas of Karnataka while Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the flood situation in Mangaluru.

Areas like Pumpwell, Ambedkar Circle, Kodialguthu, Kottara Chowki, Attavar, PVS, Kadri Kambala, Adyar, Ekkur, Alake, Panjimogeru, Bykapmpady Industrial Area and Thokkottu Junction were flooded. A majority of the roads in the city were knee-deep in water either due to lack of stormwater drains or choked drains.

Traffic was paralysed due to water-logging in areas like Pumpwell, Padil, Kottara Chowki with many four-wheelers stranded in the flood water. As a result, vehicles piled up on the highway and also on the newly-laid service road. People were seen pushing four-wheelers and two-wheelers.

Meanwhile, residents expressed their anger against the NHAI and Mangaluru City Corporation for their shoddy work on the roads and drains resulting in flooding.

Waterlogging near Women’s College and Ambedkar Circle bus stop affected traffic on the busy stretch between Juice Junction and Ambedkar Circle. Motorists had a hard time driving through the waterlogged stretches.

Schoolchildren from Gujarati School in Alake were shifted by a boat by firemen as there was around four feet of water around the school.Two teachers suffered injuries when the wall of a school in Krishnapura collapsed. The injured are Mamatha and Tulasi. With the district administration declaring holiday after 1 pm, parents rushed to schools to pick up their wards. Flooding in Baikampady Industrial Area affected many industries.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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