Heavy rains continue in Ooty

Heavy rains in Nilgiris cause tree uprooting, traffic blockage; Udhagamandalam Municipality warns against diverting rainwater into sewers.

Heavy rains continued in the Nilgiris on Thursday, May 23, 2024 leading to at least one reported instance of a tree becoming uprooted and blocking traffic along the Coonoor to Kotagiri Road late on Wednesday night.

According to highways department officials, the tree became uprooted near Bandishola and workers from the highway department rushed to the spot to clear the route and restore traffic.

The Nilgiris district administration said that an average of 61.5 millimeters of rainfall was recorded across the district till Thursday morning. Heavy rainfall was recorded in Kodanad and Geddai, with each of the two areas receiving more than 100 millimeters of rain. Heavy rain was also recorded in Balacola, Hulical, Cherumuli and Padanthorai.

Udhagamandalam town recorded 54 millimeters of rain, with a few low-lying areas surrounding the Ooty lake reporting water-logging. The tourist spots of the Government Botanical Garden, Rose Garden and the Ooty Lake wore a deserted look till Thursday afternoon, when the rains abated.

Following heavy water logging in a few places, the Udhagamandalam Municipality (UMC) has warned residences, restaurants and hotels to not directly divert rain water into the town’s underground sewerage system. In a press release, the UMC said that the underground sewerage system in the Nilgiris was over 30-years-old, and the system was found to be lacking in several areas.

They said that during spells of heavy rain, residences, hotels and restaurants were found to be diverting rain-water into the underground sewerage system, causing localized flooding and water inundation in many parts of the town.

The UMC directed home and business owners to set up rain water harvesting systems and to divert excess rain water into storm water drains across the municipality’s limits. The municipality said that violators would be fined if they were found to be diverting rain water into the underground sewerage system.