Coonoor witnesses landslides at 18 places after heavy rainfall

Coimbatore: Coonoor witnessed landslides at 18 places following heavy rainfall from Thursday night to early Friday morning.Many trees were uprooted and fell on the roads, and the Nilgiris Mountain Railway services were stopped on Friday morning. While Coonoor received 21.5 cm of rainfall within 24 hours, Kotagiri received 11.5cm of rainfall. According to revenue department officials, trees were uprooted and fell on the roads at five places in Coonoor, and at one place each in Udhagamandalam and Kotagiri. Fire and rescue services personnel were deployed in the areas to clear the uprooted trees lying on roads. Two cars parked at Uzhavar Sandhai area in Coonoor were damaged in the landslide. According to the Nilgiris district collector, Lakshmi Bhavya Tanneeru, parts of Coonoor witnessed landslips, boulder falls, and tree collapses. While addressing the media, she said that there were no casualties or major property damage, except trees falling on a few parked vehicles. The collector said, "The situation is normal. All road restoration works are in progress. We identified one landslide-vulnerable area near a residential area in Coonoor, and temporarily shifted around 40 people from the area to community halls. One electricity pole got damaged in the rainfall and is being rectified." Floodwaters entered some residences in the Model House area. Power outages and landslides were reported from Apple B, TTK Road, and Velankanni Nagar. Heavy rainfall uprooted five trees in Coonoor, one in Ooty, and one in Kotagiri—disrupting traffic. Southern Railway cancelled the mountain train services temporarily after boulders and trees fell on the Mettupalayam–Ooty mountain train track and the Coonoor–Ooty track.