OOTY: The heavy rains that lashed across the Nilgiris not only forced holidays for educational institutions in four taluks in the hills on Monday, but, it also triggered minor landslips in the Coonoor-Mettupalayam sector of the every busy Ooty-Coimbatore NH that paralyzed traffic on this road.
Though the weather profile was cloudy, windy and rainy on Sunday, the intensity of rains began to soar up on Sunday night that saw torrential rains began to lash across the hills, especially, in Ooty, Coonoor, Kotagiri and Kundah taluks. The heavy rains continued through Monday morning thus making life tough with the continuing wet spell and inclement weather conditions.
The heavy down pour along Coonoor-Burliar slopes triggered minor landslips in around dozen spots between Coonoor and Mettupalayam sector of the Ooty-Coimbatore NH. As this instantly halted traffic flow on this road, the traffic between the hills to Mettuapalayam and Coimbore was diverted via Kotagiri. The local hill train service between Ooty and Coonoor was cancelled after minor landslips in this sector on Monday.
While the disaster management teams were sweating it out in the nippy conditions to clear the mess to restore traffic in Ooty-NH it went in vain as the fresh rains that began on Monday evening posed threat.
This apart, there were reports about minor landslips and mud-slips in a couple of places across the hills. The district administration is on high alert to respond to any emergencies that may arise due to rains. The rainfall (mm) recorded in various spots in Nilgiris on Monday is as follows:Coonoor-100, Kodanad-80, Kundah-75, Kotagiri-51, Geddai-45, Ooty-45, Burliar-35, Kinnakorai-20 and Avalanche-20.
