A deluge and its aftermath Premium

Malemane, Madugundi flood aftermath in Chikkamagaluru, Karnataka: residents struggle for rehabilitation after devastating 2019 landslides.

August 9, 2019, is a day etched in the memory of hundreds of people in the villages of Mudigere, Kalasa, Koppa, and other taluks at the foothills of the Western Ghats in Chikkamagaluru district in Karnataka. It was the day of the Vara Mahalakshmi festival, but their memory is of the deluge, destruction, and devastation that heavy rains brought them that day. Many continue to suffer in its aftermath a good five years later because of incomplete rehabilitation.

Chandrakala, a resident of Malemane village, recalls that on that day, by afternoon, the downpour had intensified. People in several villages in Mudigere and neighbouring taluks knew it was not a typical rainy day. Within a couple of hours, they could hear a loud noise from the hilltops. Rainwater came gushing like a river, taking all that was in its way: people, livestock, entire houses. “I still remember how I ran towards my home as water followed me,” recalls Chandrakala, an agricultural labourer in her mid-40s.

That day, she met one of her employers expecting some advance payment, as she was planning to bring back her daughter from a government-run residential school for the weekend.

“My employer asked me why I took the risk of visiting him during heavy rains. My worry was to reach my daughter’s hostel somehow and bring her back home safe, as we were listening to reports of road blockades all over the area,” she said. As she returned home after taking the money, she could see rainwater flowing like a river. “The house that I had just visited was washed away in the rainwater even as I watched,” Chandrakala recalls.

Chikkamagaluru district, known for its picturesque hill stations, is located in the south-western part of Karnataka. People from distant places choose the hill station for holidaying, prompting a steep increase in homestays and resorts in the localities adjacent to forest areas in the district. Every weekend, the roads leading to popular tourist destinations witness traffic jams, posing a formidable challenge to the local administration.

The hilly parts of the district – Mudigere, Chikkamagaluru, Koppa, Sringeri, and N.R. Pura taluks – receive high rainfall. The residents have adjusted their routines in tune with the heavy rains. They spend their days working in the fields — coffee and tea plantations — despite the rain.

However, what they witnessed in August 2019 was unprecedented. They never expected the entire hillocks to come crumbling down, covering the agricultural lands at the foothills. Within hours, hundreds of people were rendered homeless. Among them, the worst hit were those in the villages of Malemane, Madugundi, Haravinakere, Chennahadlu, Durgadahalli, Alekhan Horatti, Balur, and Kalasa. The rainwater had taken away the hard work they had put in for decades to cultivate their plantations and build houses. The road network was severely damaged, making it difficult for the administration to reach relief for the affected people.