Water oozes out of floors, fields

HUBLI: After death and destruction, flood-affected villagers are facing another problem now: water oozing out of the floor, making the foundation and walls weaker by the day. This has been observed in Bijapur and Bagalkot and parts of Gulbarga districts.
The water flows slowly and silently. In many places, the flow has not stopped even after a fortnight.In some houses, water collected has run into hundreds of litres. Residents dig up pits in the floor and collect water, only to pump it out later. Some of them have accepted it as a fallout of the downpour and floods while some others feel threatened. "I live under the constant fear of the roof falling over my head," said Yellavva Amargol in Hangaragi in Bijapur district. Shankarappa Mareppa, who lost his brother when his house collapsed in Hiremagavi of Bijapur district, has stopped sleeping in his house after water started oozing out of the floor.
In Kamatagi village in Bagalkot, water has been oozing out of the ground, turning the entire village into a huge pond of slush.
Similar is the case in Benal village where floods had washed away cotton crops. "Now the fields are full of water because of that," said Shankar Hanumashetty, who teaches at a local school.
Senior geologist of the department of mines and geology P M Khan said this was a common post-flood phenomenon. "Whenever a large area is affected by floods for a prolonged period, water that has seeped into the ground begins to come out. That is because the hydrostatic pressure is higher than the atmospheric pressure. This naturally affects the foundation and walls," Khan added.
According to him, there is no sure-shot solution to the problem. Temporary solutions include pumping out water and leaving at a place 100 metres away from the house, and letting the stream dry out over a period of time.