DK: Six injured in lightning, several houses, school damaged

Mangalore/Belthangady, Jun 1: As the rains that lashed the Dakshina Kannada district on Thursday continued into the night, a pleasant weather prevailed all through Friday, dipping the temperatures by a couple of degrees.

Belthangady taluk received the highest rainfall in the district, measuring upto 80.8 mm. Mangalore received 11.8 mm, Sullia taluk 6.2 mm, Bantwal taluk 7.2 mm, Kadaba 52.3 mm and Moodbidri 3.3 mm rainfall in 24 hours.

Having received good amount of rainfall, the level of the river in Belthangady taluk which had almost dried up in the sweltering summer, has risen up. Fortunately, no casualties due to the heavy lightning were reported in the region.

The region of Byndoor saw heavy rains accompanied by thunder and lightning on Thursday night. In Puttur taluk, the intermittent rain during the day grew intense in the evening.

Karkala and Kundapur did not receive any rain in spite of cloudy skies.

Casualties

Lightning struck in Kasargod district injuring six people on Thursday. The district also saw wide-spread damage due to the heavy wind and lightning accompanying the rains.

Six people were injured when lightning struck a home in Dharmattadka in Puttige panchayat limits, and the electrical appliances were damaged.

Lightning struck the home of Gopal Acharya in Dharmattadka and injured his mother Saraswathi (70), wife Jayalakshmi (46) and children Ashwini, Vidyashree, Chaitra and Chitralatha. A severely wounded Vidyashree was admitted in Kasargod General Hospital.

One portion of the house has been totally damaged by the lightning. Apart from the electrical appliances, the glass windows have also been damaged.

Lightning also caused damage to the house of Shivanaik located near Perla and injured his brother Narayana Naik.

The houses of Sadshiva Bhat and Narayana Naik were also struck by lightning, and caused the deaths of their pet dog and home-bred poultry.

A portion of the compound wall of Mubarak Masjid in Mangalore collapsed due to the heavy rain and caused damage.

Rainwater entered shops and hotels in the city, causing hindrance to traders.

School compound collapses

A portion of the compound wall of a school in Belthangady collapsed due to heavy rains a day prior to school re-opening.

The collapsing of the compound wall of the government higher primary school in Gerukatte has caused a huge loss to the school.

Two years ago, the compound wall was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 1 lakh. The amount for the construction was a grant from the MP's fund.

Having erected the entire compound wall on an old existing structure two years ago, there is a fear of the compound wall collapsing at any instance. The locals have urged the school administration to take immediate measures to prevent this.