Rain recedes, but damages continue in Nilgiris

Coimbatore: After more than a week of heavy downpour, rains eased a bit with most parts of The Nilgiris receiving just mild to moderate rains on Thursday.

However, sporadic incidents of tree falls and mudslips continued, while a high rise retaining wall collapsed in the Lakeview area in Ooty. A major tragedy has been averted as there was no public in the area. The video of wall collapse has been circulated widely on social media.

Meanwhile, traffic was stopped on the road from Kallakorai village to B Manihatty after a mudslip. Officials of the National Highways Department inspected the spot and took efforts to divert vehicles through an alternative route.

Further, vehicle movement was disrupted on Ooty-Avalanche Road due to tree falls on multiple spots. Also, the Gudalur-Masinagudi Road continued to be blocked due to flooding in Moyar River. Residents of Masinagudi have petitioned the district administration authorities demanding to reopen Kalhatty Road for vehicles.

“At least jeep and cars should be allowed by the way and help in reviving the livelihood of people dependent on tourism sector,” they said in a petition. Similarly, trees were uprooted on Mukkimalai on Manjur-Edakkadu Road and Ooty-Manjanakorai Road. Uprooting of trees also led to power outages in different parts.

Two houses, owned by Kanagaraj in Bharathi Nagar and Murugesh in Marapalam collapsed at Bharathi Nagar in ‘O’ Valley Town Panchayat. Due to rains, most of tourist spots wore a deserted look in the district.