Heavy rainfall causes landslips in Nilgiris

Udhagamandalam: The north east monsoon has brought rain to the hills for the past week and Nilgiris district received an average of 53mm of rainfall in 24 hours as on Friday morning. The relentless rain caused landslips across the district, brought down trees and damaged houses.
Strong winds and heavy rain lashed Ooty and other towns all of Thursday night.Ooty was covered with thick mist and vehicles found it difficult to move through the fog.
As many as 22 cases of tree fall, which caused road blocks, were reported across the district. A huge tree came down near Aruvankadu on the Ooty-Coonoor main on Thursday night. Traffic was blocked for more than two hours on Friday morning. The fire department removed the fallen tree and cleared the road for traffic.
In Kotagiri taluk, 10 houses were damaged while two collapsed. Houses in Krishnapudur, Kunjapanai and Nedugula were damaged. Each of the families whose houses were damaged received Rs 2,500 from the Kotagiri tahsildar Ramkumar. The owners of the two houses that collapsed were given Rs 5,000 each.
The Nilgiris district administration declared a holiday for schools and colleges on Friday. However, educational institutions were open in Gudalur and Pandalur taluks, where there is no rain.
On Friday, Nilgiris collector P Sankar visited a few affected parts of the district, including a place in Coonoor where there was a landslip. Precautionary measures for disaster management are in place, said officials.
Avalanche registered the highest rainfall of 95mm, while Coonoor and Kotagiri received 84 and 82mm of rain respectively. Ooty registered 60.5mm and Kodanadu 65mm ending 24 hours on Friday morning.