Mudslide on Adukkam Road throws life out of gear in Kodai

MADURAI: The heavy downpour in Kodaikanal triggered a mudslide on Wednesday night along Adukkam Road, affecting traffic and throwing normal life out of gear in the hill station.

Due to the landslide, Adukkam village was cut off from the rest of Kodaikanal and neighboring Periyakulam town in Theni district, sources said. Officials from departments of highways and revenue are carrying out repair works to restore traffic in the area. Kodaikanal Tahsildar A Muthuraman said it has been raining intermittently since Wednesday and the mudslide occurred for a distance of 10 feet. Restoration works are under way in full swing to clear the road. The revenue official said that normally Adukkam Road is not open to public transport, but private vehicles operated by villagers of Adukkam and nearby areas would use the stretch.

In recent days, catchment areas along Western Ghats have been receiving good amount of rainfall resulting in the rise in storage level of the Vaigai dam, which has reached its full capacity. P Murugesan, Assistant Executive Engineer, PWD, said after the Vaigai dam reached its full capacity of 71 feet on Wednesday the discharge was increased from 1,090 cusecs to 3,754 cusecs on

Thursday, he said. Apart from this owing to the heavy flow in Suruli and Kumbakkarai falls, people have been restricted from approaching both the waterbodies, sources said.

However, there has not been much rain in Kanniyakumari district, which experienced intermittent drizzle on Thursday. Two NDRF teams comprising 44 personnel, who were earlier deployed in the wake of heavy rain warning, left the district on Thursday. However, fishing operations remained suspended owing to rough weather in the sea, sources said.

In Tenkasi district, tourists were banned from taking bath in Courtallam falls. A similar situation prevailed in Manimuthar waterfalls also, sources said.