Torrential rains trigger mud slips, tree fall incidents in Nilgiris

COIMBATORE: Torrential downpour in the Nilgiris led to multiple incidents of mud slips and tree fall on the ghat roads. With no let-up in rain since Saturday night, mud slips were reported in more than ten locations in Coonoor and Kotagiri.

A 68-year-old woman got trapped inside her Bharat Nagar house near Coonoor after it collapsed during a mud slip. Police said the woman, Jayamalai, was asleep when the mud slip occurred. She was later rescued by fire service personnel and admitted to Ooty Government Hospital for treatment.

As it was the end of the festival weekend, tourists faced difficulty with traffic being thrown out of gear following tree collapse incidents in Gandhipuram and Marapalam on Coonoor-Mettupalayam Road and in Kurumbadi village near Coonoor.

Vehicle movement was suspended as a major portion of the road at Krishnapuram in Coonoor caved in. As a precaution, police personnel placed barricades along the road.

Continuous rains also triggered a huge mud slip on the Kotagiri-Mettupalayam Road. Joint teams of fire service, highways, and revenue department officials worked overtime to clear blockades caused by fallen trees and rocks, in order to restore vehicular movement.

Revenue department authorities made inspections after the houses of four persons — Saraswathi and Ramu in Kumaran Colony in Kotagiri and Kannagi in Krishnapudur — suffered damage due to the heavy rains.

Meanwhile, tourists were disappointed as Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) train services between Mettupalayam and Ooty were suspended on Sunday after incidents of tree fall and mud slips. Boulders too had rolled down on the tracks between Kallar and Hill Grove railway stations.

Works are under way on a war footing to clear the tracks and restore the movement of trains.