COONOOR: Rains coutinues to pound The Nilgiris on Sunday, with the district recording 735.30 mm of rainfall in 24 hours ending at 8.30 am. Devala received the highest rainfall of 103 mm followed by Avalanchi 93 mm, upper Bhavani 53 mm, Gudalur and Naduvattam 49 mm each and Pandalur 47 mm.
Due to the rain, a tree fell on Gudalur Wynad road and traffic was interrupted for two hours. Forest Minister K Ramachandran said 16 houses are partially damaged and the government has handed over to them cheques worth ₹ 65,600 as compensation.
However, meteorological department said all agro-climatic zones in the district except Ooty had received lesser rainfall in the first half of the current year when compared to 2021. Meanwhile, Deputy Director of UPASI Tea Research Foundation KG Udaya Bhanu pointed out that Coonoor, Kullakamby and Kotagiri zones had received more cumulative rain than the normal level as measured by the decennial (10-year) average for the period.
Kotagiri had received the highest cumulative rainfall of 62.8 cm in the first half of the current year against 80.8 mm in Jan-June 2021 and a decennial average of 45.4 cm followed by Kundah 43.6 cm (Jan-June 2021: 63.5 cm; decennial: 45.3 cm), Coonoor 42.5 cm (73.9 cm; 41.6 cm), Ooty 39.3 cm (31.4 cm; 40.3 cm) and Kullakamby 33.5 cm (56.2 cm; 33.7 cm), he said.
Flood alert in Sholyar
The Coimbatore district administration has issued a flood alert to people living on the banks of Sholyar river. Water level in the Sholyar dam reached full capacity of 162 feet following incessant rain in catchment areas over the last couple of weeks. As of Sunday morning, the district has received a total of 318 mm rainfall with which Valparai had received the highest rainfall.