Man dies, institutions shut for 4th day in The Nilgiris

As rains continued, schools and colleges in Kundah, Udhagamandalam, Gudalur and Pandalur areas remained shut for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday. The fire and rescue personnel had a field day as more than 50 trees got uprooted and blocked arterial roads leading to Gudalur, Manjoor, Udhagamandalam town and on the Mysore Road. With an unprecedented rainfall wreaking havoc, the district administration switched to emergency mode by evacuating people living in flood prone low lying areas in Kundah, Gudalur and Pandalur taluks.

Hundreds of people living in Gudalur and Pandalur and in dozen low lying villages were evacuated and sheltered temporarily in schools located in safer regions.

“A large team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel have come over to Nilgiris to attend to any emergencies caused by rains,” said District Collector Innocent Divya.

Similarly nonstop rains in Coimbatore had thrown life out of gear in Coimbatore. In Valparai, several houses located near Vazhaithottam area were flooded due to torrential rains. People were forced to vacate their houses to upper regions. Schools and colleges in Valparai were declared a holiday due to rains.

2 die in parcel office collapse

In a tragic incident, two persons died and two others injuried after a railway parcel office building located behind the Coimbatore railway station collapsed here on the early morning hours of Thursday. The police identified the deceased persons as Pavizhamani and Ibrahim, both hailing from Mettupalayam and working as contract workers in the railway parcel office. One among the two others injured has been identified as Raju. Based on information, the railway staff and fire and rescue personnel rushed to the spot. After battling out for several hours, they removed the building debris to rescue the four men. They were immediately rushed to CMCH, however two of them died without responding to treatment. One more person has been undergoing treatment, while the other was dicharged.

Police said the building which had become damp due to continuous rains had unexpectedly collapsed around 3.30am, when the workers were inside.