Rain batters Nilgiris dist, residents moved to safety

The flow in Kalampuzha stream rose dangerously following the heavy downpour many several tribal villages in Gudalur and Pandalur regions faced inundation threat. As a precautionary measure, officials moved the tribal families to schools in upper regions.

With the meteorological department predicting heavy rains for the hill district, Collector Innocent Divya said that 300 temporary shelters have been kept ready to accommodate people living in low lying areas.

“More than 500 people have so far been sheltered in five camps, where they are provided with sanitizers, masks and social distancing is ensured. Medical teams have been deployed to monitor the health of people in camps. About 40 members of State Disaster Response Force and teams from National Disaster Response are expected to help people during emergencies,” she said.

Residents have been advised not to venture out unnecessarily due to heavy rains accompanied by strong winds. “People should not stand near trees. Relief teams have identified 283 localities to be flood prone and people there are being moved over to safer regions,” she said.

A few incidents of tree fall and minor land slips were also reported in the district. Also due to flooding in Moyar River, the coracle services to Thengumarahada have been suspended on Tuesday.

Heavy rains have come exactly a year after similar downpour in the hill district, which led to multiple land slips, erosion of roads and life loss in August last year. The district has recorded an average rainfall of 62.64 millimeters with Gudalur and Upper Gudalur receiving the maximum of 201 and 192 millimeters till Tuesday morning. The Upper Bhavani has received 308 millimeters of rain.

Meanwhile, a flood alert has been sounded to people living on the banks of Bhavani River in Mettupalayam in Coimbatore district. As Pillur dam is also fast reaching its full reservoir capacity of 100 feet and due to an increase in discharge, the people living along the course of the river were asked to move to safer regions.

Over 20,000 cusecs was being released from the dam and the discharge was likely to go up as rains are expected to continue on Wednesday also. Similarly, the Noyyal river flowing in Coimbatore is in full spate due to rains in its catchment areas. Inflow into the Mettur Dam in Salem is also likely to surge as Karnataka has released copious water.