Tamil Nadu: West rivers in spate, tree fall blocks Ghat road

COIMBATORE: For the second consecutive day, heavy rains battered several Western districts hampering normal life. Flood alerts have been issued for people residing along the banks of the Aliyar River and Amaravathi River.

The incessant rains on Friday have caused tree falls, power outages, and disruption in vehicle movement. As many as seven tribal villages in Coonoor experienced power cuts for several hours after a huge tree uprooted and fell on a transformer in the Marapalam area on Coonoor-Mettupalayam Road.

The transformer collapsed resulting in damages to more than five electric posts that supply power to villages such as Kurumbadi, Pudhukadu, Kozhikarai, Sembakarai, Marapalam, Kattery, and Burliyar. A tree fall on Ooty-Kotagiri Road leading to Doddabetta Peak caused traffic disruption. Meanwhile, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) train services between Mettupalayam and Udagamandalam have been cancelled on Saturday. A flood alert has been issued to people living along the river banks as the storage level of Aliyar Dam, in Pollachi, is rising fast due to heavy rains in its catchment areas. At 8 am on Friday, the water storage level in the dam stood at 112.60 feet as against its full storage level of 120 feet.

The dam received an inflow of 3,600 cusecs on Friday afternoon. In addition, tourists were barred from visiting the flooded ‘Kaviaruvi’ in Pollachi. Similarly, a flood alert has been issued to people living along the banks of the Amaravathi River as the Amaravathi Dam in Tirupur is barely a few feet short of reaching its Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 90 feet.

The arterial stretches of Tiruchy Road and Avinashi Road in Coimbatore experienced vehicle congestion. In Erode, several acres of paddy crops in Karungalpalayam and Vairapalayam were damaged.