Landslips in rain-drenched Ooty cripple traffic for 15 hrs

Ooty: Landslides in two phases within 12 hours at Kilnadugani in Nilgiris border have crippled inter-state traffic in Nilgiris-Kerala border for about 15 hours as the hills continued to experience heavy rains. The district administration has been put on red alert to respond to any situations that may arise due to heavy rains.

The welcome rains have indeed proved helpful in filling the reservoirs to the brim, rejuvenating the hills and the standing crops. However, the other side of the heavy rains story has been reflected in the form of mud-slips and land slides that occurred in Kilnadugani area along the Gudalur-Malapuram (Kerala) road on Thursday night and Friday morning. It showed how the rain soaked slopes are on the verge of sliding down.

The huge mass of soil along with boulders and uprooted trees fell upon the Gudalur-Malapuram road at Kilnadugani area on Thursday night by around 8.30 pm, instantly paralyzing traffic on this busy road.

The relief and rescue teams which reached the spot sweated out in the dark hours and cleared the rubbish by 4 am on Friday early morning.  When the traffic resumed after that, it lasted only for about four hours as another bit of landslide in the same spot by around 8 am on Friday morning saw some more boulders moving down, crippled traffic again.

The officials, in order to ensure safety of commuters on this road, also decided to remove the boulders which were found hanging on the edge of the road.  The disaster management teams took about seven hours to clear the rubbish on the road and to remove the dangerous boulders. Traffic resumed by around 3 pm on Friday evening.