COIMBATORE: Torrential rains since Tuesday night led to tree falls on arterial roads and inundation of houses in the Nilgiris.
As rains continued to pour out on Wednesday, District Collector M Aruna declared a holiday for schools and colleges in Gudalur and Pandalur taluks. Tree falls led to traffic disruption on arterial roads to Kerala and Karnataka from Gudalur.
Also, vehicle movement came to a grinding halt due to uprooting of trees on interior roads in ‘Puthu Thottam’, Manjanakorai and M Palada areas. The fire and rescue personnel were on their toes clearing the fallen trees to make way for vehicle movement.
Farmers were worried as plantain crops in large tracts of land were broken in heavy winds and farms flooded. Water entered houses in Iruvayal village because of flooding in Thorapalli River.
Meanwhile, tourists were barred from bathing in the flooded Kovai Kutralam Falls in Coimbatore and Monkey Falls in Pollachi. A large number of tourists, who visited these falls, returned disappointed due to their closure.
Following rains in catchment areas, the water storage level in Siruvani dam, which serves as a drinking water source for Coimbatore, surged moderately over the last two days. From less than ten feet, the water level rose to around 15 feet as against its full reservoir level of 50 feet. While Coimbatore received mild showers, Pollachi and Valparai witnessed continuous downpour.