CHENNAI: Three persons including a woman and her grand-daughter died after their houses collapsed in separate incidents in Valparai and Pollachi due to heavy rains.

According to police, A Rajeswari alias Muthammal, 57, wife of Arumugam, a private security guard, was sleeping with her grand-daughter S Dhanapriya, 15, studying class ten, when her house at ‘Idathukarai’ near Sholayar dam collapsed on Tuesday early morning hours. Arumugam was away on night duty.

The woman and her grand-daughter were buried under the debris. Neighbours noticed the collapsed house in the morning and informed the fire and rescue personnel, who rushed to the spot and recovered their bodies.

The bodies were then sent for a post mortem to Valparai Government Hospital.

Later in the day, Minister for Prohibition and Excise S Muthusamy paid his tributes to the deceased and handed over a solatium of Rs 3 lakhs to Dhanapriya’s mother Suguna following the directions of Chief Minister MK Stalin.

In another incident in Pollachi, A Hariharasudhan from Thippampatti died after a mud wall of a neighbour’s house collapsed on his house, which in turn crumbled on him in the early morning hours.

On hearing the loud noise, neighbours rushed Hariharasudhan to Pollachi Government Hospital, where doctors examined and found him to be dead already.

Police said Hariharasudhan, a graduate, who was planning to join work in a private firm in Bangalore next week, had met with his tragic end.

Similarly, heavy rains in the Nilgiris caused mud slip and tree fall on Gudalur-Ooty National Highways on Monday night resulting in traffic disruption.

Also, a tree fall on the road from Pandalur to Kozhikode affected traffic movement between Tamil Nadu and Kerala for more than an hour.

The Cherambadi police and forest department got into action and removed the fallen trees. Schools were also declared a holiday in view of rains.