Low-lying areas flooded, schools shut as no rain respite for Nilgiris

Schools in Coimbatore and the Nilgiris districts declared a holiday on Tuesday following the rain. 

However, many parents and children, unaware of the leave order issued by Coimbatore Collector TN Hariharan, reached their schools braving the downpour but were greeted by blackboards announcing the holiday. In the Nilgiris, schools in Gudalur, Pandalur and Ooty taluks declared a holiday due to the rain. Heavy rain and resultant flooding led to water entering houses in low-lying areas such as first mile, second mile and Health Camp. 

Residents in these settlements were evacuated and taken to safer locations. The affected residents rushed to safety leaving behind their belongings and electronic items. With water levels rising inside their houses, the residents feared that their properties may be damaged. Many residential areas in Gudalur were also affected by long hours of outage due to tree falls in the week-long rain accompanied by strong winds. 

Plantain farms along the course of the flooded Bhavani river were submerged in Mettupalayam. From Pillur dam, which was brimming, about 10,000 cusecs of water was released around 6 am. It was increased to 13,000 cusecs as inflow into the dam rose. 

Farmers claimed that thousands of plantain crops in their farms were submerged and may perish resulting in heavy losses. In Coimbatore, tourist spots such as Monkey falls and Kovai Kutralam continued to remain out of bounds due to heavy flow of water.

It may be raining elsewhere, but students of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) staged a sit-in protest as they didn’t get water in their hostel. Girl students, aggrieved after pipes in the hostel ran dry, squatted in the premises of the institution on Monday night. 

“We couldn’t do any chores and even attend to nature’s call due to lack of water in the bathrooms in the hostel for several hours,” said a girl student. 

The TNAU officials sought to pacify the students claiming that water supply was not available only due to power outage and there is no issue of water shortage. 

The motors could not be run due to lack of power. After the officials assured that motors would be switched on after power supply was restored, the students withdrew their protest and returned to their hostels. The protest for water came as a surprise as the district has been  receiving copious rainfall over the past week and regular supply of water is being maintained in all areas.