Tamil Nadu: Incessant rain throws normal life out of gear in Nilgiris

UDHAGAMANDALAM: Incessant rainfall on Monday affected normal life in Ooty and other parts of the district. Strong wind and wet weather paved the way for uprooting of at least 12 huge trees in the past two days.
All the trees were cut and removed by the fire service personnel in association with the state highways.
Ooty plunged into darkness as the town went without power for over 14 hours starting from Monday 10pm as a huge tree was uprooted on the Ooty-Coonoor main road near Aavin head office.
“Even after the fallen trees at three locations in Ooty town were removed, it took time for us to locate the fault by checking each electric pole. The delay in resuming power was due to this reason,” an official of TNEB said.
According to fire service personnel, at least seven fallen trees were cleared from various roads in Ooty, while in Coonoor three fallen trees were cut and removed. Kotagiri and Gudalur reported one tree each uprooted.
While Upper Bhavani registered the highest rainfall of 109mm, Avalanchi and Devala received 83mm and 57mm respectively ending 24 hours at 7 am on Tuesday. Pandalur recorded 51 mm while Gudalur and Naduvattam received 24mm and 18.5mm respectively. Ooty registered 8mm of rainfall.
Motorists found it difficult to navigate the roads due to the prevailing thick mist.
As the southwest monsoon has become active in the Nilgiris, the district administration has taken all the measures to handle any eventuality.
Nilgiris collector said J Innocent Divya said, “As many as 42 teams comprising inter-departments have been pre-positioned as part of a disaster management measure. Also, 456 relief camps are kept ready across the district.”
People living near vulnerable areas such as low-line areas and landslide prone areas have been warned. In case of any contingency, people from these areas will be shifted to nearby relief camps, according to the collector.