Belthangady : The sight of dark clouds gathering at a distance and the slightest sound of thunder sends a chill down the spine of Anthara and Aranepade residents, in this taluk on the foothills of Charmadi Ghat. Scarred by the deluge of August 9 that left their lives in tatters, residents of these villages, just three days ago, had the mortification of seeing water rise to their verandas, thanks to heavy rain lashing the region since the past few days.

“Ever since rain battered the region on August 9, flattening our areca plantation and leaving it a wasteland, thanks to three to four feet of silt deposited on it by the raging Mruthyunjaya rivulet, water has breached the bank on at least 10 occasions,” noted a pensive Saroja, a resident of Anthara. “Just two-days ago, the water rose alarmingly, after a sharp spell of rain, and the rivulet was flooded with debris coming down in a rush,” she said.

In August, most of the villagers took shelter in a nearby temple, and the district administration looked after us, Saroja says, adding now the situation is getting out of hand.

“We had to sell our cattle for we are not in a position to look after them,” she says. “We request authorities to relocate us to a safer place on 5 cents of land, with provision to build a house on it. “With aged people in the family, we can’t lead this life in constant tension,” she says.

On the other side of the bank, in Aranepade village, the situation is no different. Though the houses are scattered and not closely clustered as they are in Anthara, the villagers fear for their lives, given that the gushing waters that changed its course drastically, has brought the rivulet perilously close to their doorsteps. Both villages still bear the scar of August floods, and flooding in the last 48 hours is not allowing them to rest easy.

Admitting that the situation of the villagers is bad, and man is rendered helpless before the might of nature, home minister Basavaraj Bommai, who visited the affected areas on Thursday, said the government will construct a 2.5-km long retaining wall on either bank to tame the might of the rivulet.

“We will seek expert opinion on reasons for this unprecedented devastation in the region,” he said, adding that the government will provide all help possible to rehabilitate the villagers.

Harish Poonja, Belthangady MLA, said the department of mines and geology has permitted the villagers to clear the sand that the deluge has deposited in their agricultural lands.

“Excess silt and sand removed will be used to fill the vast chasm created by the rivulet changing course,” Poonja said, adding work on a retaining wall will be taken up once the monsoon subsides. The existing vented dam too will be strengthened and extended to connect the two villages, he said.