Five killed in rains in Nilgiris; 1,704 rescued

With South-West Monsoon rains continuing to pound the Nilgiris, at least five persons have lost their lives, even as 1,704 people have been rescued and lodged in 28 relief centres in the hilly district. Avalanche in the Nilgiris district continued to experience record rainfall with 911 mm being registered in the last 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Friday.

As the Nilgiris district remained largely cut-off, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami rushed Revenue Minister R B Udhayakumar to oversee the relief operations. Palaniswami said a total of 491 personnel, including 66 from the Army, have joined the relief operations to rescue people trapped in hilly areas and bring them to safety.

Palaniswami said in a statement that five people died due to rain-related incidents in Nilgiris district and announced a solatium of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of the deceased. He also said 1,704 persons have rescued from risky areas and lodged in 28 relief centres in the district.

“The state government has readied 23 permanent medical teams and 13 mobile medical teams across the district. Thirty ambulance vehicles have been kept on stand-by,” Palaniswami said.

Udhayakumar asked tourists not to travel to the Nilgiris for the next few days due to continuous rains. Weather bloggers and MeT department have forecast heavy rains for the district on Saturday as well.

Not just Nilgiris, several areas in Coimbatore district, including Coimbatore, Pollachi and Valparai, are also experiencing a good amount of rainfall for the past few days. Areas bordering Karnataka and Kerala have been the target of the rains and several district administrations have put their officials on alert due to heavy discharge of water from dams in the aforesaid neighbouring states.

“Avalanche in Nilgiris district has registered record rainfall of 2136 mm in the past 72 hours ending 8.30 am on Friday. While it recorded 405 mm on August 7, the rainfall recorded on August 8 was 820 mm and 911 mm on August 9,” weather blogger Pradeep John said.

Schools in Coimbatore and Nilgiris were closed on Friday and inflow into the Bhavanisagar Dam stood at 46,000 cusecs, while the inflow into the Pillar dam stood at over 38,000 cusecs.