Ooty: The northeast monsoon rains turned vigorous suddenly from Tuesday evening here in the Nilgiris with a wet spell along with chilly weather. Uprooted trees and boulders that fell down on the roads paralyzed traffic in the Coonoor belt.
After a lull for nearly a week, the NE monsoon intensified from Tuesday across the Nilgiris. There was round-the-clock drizzle along with occasional heavy downpour with winds, clouds and mist on Wednesday.
The heavy rains that rocked the Coonoor belt on Tuesday evening uprooted a couple of trees along the Coonoor-Kotagiri road and paralyzed traffic on this busy road for more than an hour on Tuesday evening.
Two boulders that came down the slopes along the Karumbalam-Selas stretch of the Coonoor-Kundah road played havoc with traffic on Wednesday morning for a few hours. The disaster management teams working in the area made arrangements to break down the boulders to pave the way for traffic flow.
An uprooted tree along the Kundah-Ooty road on Wednesday evening blocked traffic flow on this busy road. Likewise, a minor landslip in the Gandhipuram area near Coonoor and a boulder that fell on the Ooty-Coimbatore NH near Coonoor town played havoc with traffic on Wednesday evening.
Since rains are soaking the fragile slopes in the Coonoor-Kundah road and Kundah-Ooty stretch, highway officials have appealed to motorists on this road to be extra cautious while commuting during the rains.
Meanwhile, Basuviah (81), was injured when his house in the Kandal road area collapsed on Wednesday evening. As the NE monsoon rains are generally known to wreck havoc in the Coonoor-Burliar belt of the Ooty-Coimbatore NH, the disaster management teams are ready with necessary equipment and machinery to respond to any emergencies that may arise due to heavy rains. The flood control rooms in Ooty and in the taluk headquarters across the hills are working round the clock to monitor the rain and flood situation.
Hill train services suspended till Nov 2
The Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) services have been suspended till November 2 due to the heavy rains.
The Ooty bound hill train from Mettupalayam suffered a jolt when one of its coaches was hit by an uprooted tree along the track between Wellington and Aruvankadu shortly after noon. While none was hurt in the incident, the train crew cleared the mess and managed to operate the train. But a minor landslip that brought debris down the track near the Aruvankadu -Ketti stretch paralyzed train traffic. The train, with 100 odd passengers, returned to Coonoor. This forced the Southern Railway to suspend NMR services between Mettupalayam and Ooty from Wednesday afternoon till November 2, as the weather in the Burliar-Coonoor-Ooty stretch is proving to be hostile to operate train services.
