Tamil Nadu rain: Red alert issued in hilly regions of Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: The Tamil Nadu government on Friday issued a red alert for the hilly regions in Coimbatore district, after the Indian Meteorological Department predicted that the areas — especially Valparai and Anamalai Hills -- would receive more than 20 cm rainfall in the next 48 hours.
Valparai recorded 23cm or 230mm of rainfall until Friday morning. Many houses in regions around Anamalai Hills had no power for the last five days.
IMD deputy director S Balachandran said that the red alert in Coimbatore was mainly issued to the hilly regions on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border.
“These regions are expected to receive more than 20cm rainfall over the next 48 hours accompanied by heavy winds,” he said.
However, the plains will experience light rainfall, he added.
Though Valparai municipality and taluk officials stated that they have earthmovers and tree cutting machines on standby to ensure roads don’t get blocked and electricity cuts are resolved immediately, residents said that there were multiple areas where people had no electricity.
“Sholayar Dam, Cincona, Chinna Kallar and Nallamudi recorded 290 mm of rain on Thursday alone. At least 5,000 people live in these localities,” said Mohammed, a resident of Valparai.
“The road from Valparai to Kerala highway was blocked due to a landslide,” he said.
Valparai municipality commissioner Paun Raj said they along with highway department officials, arranged for six earthmovers and 10 machines to cut trees to ensure roads are not blocked for too long.
“We have also placed sandbags in two places that experienced landslides,” said Paun Raj.
“We also moved 14 people, who live along the river in Valparai to a camp and provided them with food and beds. Water entered their houses. However, it was drained later,” said Raj, who also added that the intensity of rain reduced on Friday.
Roofs of three houses collapsed and at least 50 trees were fallen.