Heavy Rain Pounds Nilgiris, Especially Ooty

OOTY: Heavy rains pounded the Nilgiris, especially Ooty limits, on Monday as the northeast monsoon season began with bang in the hills here.

While the NE monsoon season generally runs between the first week of October and the end of December, this year the weathermen predicted the onset of the monsoon in the state from the second week of October.

However, things began to change for the better in the Nilgiris, which saw deficit rainfall in the preceding southwest monsoon season this year, as the thundershowers and heavy precipitation rocked the hills intermittently since Sunday night.

While the Coonoor and Kotagiri belts received heavy rains on Sunday night, that saw Kotagiri as well as Yedapalli, near Coonoor, recording 121 mm rainfall each, the heavy downpour that began here shortly after Noon on Monday pounded the hills.

The heavy downpour saw typical NE monsoon rainfall pattern returning to this town as Ooty limits turned out to be a rain-starved area in the past nine months.

The welcome rains, though unexpectedly heavy, saw rainwater gushing down the slopes and inundating the low-lying areas in the town for a while, making life difficult for pedestrians and motorists. This is because the slush and other debris washed away by the rainwater blocked the free flow of water in the Charing Cross, Commercial Road and Boathouse road areas here.

There were incidents about minor mud-slips and uprooting of small trees. However, the heavy rains rang alarm bells and gave a wake-up call to officialdom to get prepared for taking precautionary measures and keeping the rescue and relief teams in a state of readiness and preparedness.