Heavy downpour disrupts normalcy in Ooty, Yercaud
NMR train suspended; vehicle movement stalls in affected ghat roads; 1 dead in Nondimedu
A road damaged due to incessant rains in Salem district
COIMBATORE: Normal life was paralysed in hill destinations of Nilgiris and Yercaud due to heavy downpour over the last couple of days.
Rains claimed the life of a daily wager, Arumugam (43) from ‘Nondimedu’ in Ooty after a portion of the damp mud wall of his house collapsed on him. He was asleep when the incident happened past midnight on Sunday.
Police said Arumugam was staying alone as his wife Rajeswari ditched him due to family issues. On Monday morning, neighbours spotted him trapped under the debris of his collapsed house and informed police. A police team from Ooty Town Central Police Station arrived and retrieved the body of the deceased and sent it for a post-mortem at Ooty Government Hospital.
As several other houses in the ‘Othamaram’ area in Nondimedu are in a dilapidated state, the district administration has made efforts to shelter over 50 families in a relief camp.
With rains continuing unabated, the Railway Police Station in Ooty and bus stand near Boat House remained flooded.
In view of the inclement weather, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) train services have been suspended between Mettupalayam and Udhagamandalam till Tuesday.
At Kolli Hills in Namakkal, vehicle movement was halted due to mud slips in over ten spots on the ghat road following persistent rainfall.
Vehicles queued up for over five hours on the 61st hairpin bend, where a huge heap of mud fell off and completely blocked the road, while a concrete retaining wall caved on the 29th hairpin bend.
Similarly, tourists were barred from visiting the Yercaud hills in Salem, where rains triggered multiple incidents of tree falls and mud slips on the ghat road blocking vehicle movement.
“Vehicle movement has been stopped temporarily on the Yercaud ghat road due to mud slips and restoration works are underway by joint teams from highways, Public Works Department (PWD), fire service and police,” said R Brindha Devi, Salem District Collector.
Several villages were cut off due to a breach in roads and electric supply was suspended in more than 20 tribal villages due to rains in Yercaud Hills.
