TENKASI: Heavy rain lashed some parts of southern Tamil Nadu including Tenkasi, Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari on Thursday night and the early hours of Friday. The sudden showers also caused minor landslip at several places in the surrounding areas of Coonoor in Nilgiris forcing Salem Railway Division to cancel Nilgiri Mountain Railway on Friday.
In Tenkasi, Sivasailam and Ayan Dharmapuram Madam received heavy rainfall of 24.4 cm and 20.6 cm respectively. Heavy rain accompanied by thunder and lightning lashed Sivagiri, Vasudevanallur and surrounding areas for over five hours from 8 pm on Thursday.
Roads and streets were flooded with rainwater, causing hardship for motorists. Low-lying areas were inundated and rainwater entered several houses. Power supply was disrupted intermittently.
Rainwater entering houses in Vasudevanallur triggered a road blockade by residents on the Tenkasi-Madurai highway near the Mariamman temple and the adjacent Sindhamaniperipudur area from around 7.30 am on Friday.
Many residents in Vasudevanallur lost their home appliances as the rainwater entered their houses and demanded compensation from the state government. Though her house was constructed under a government scheme in 2002, the street does not have a road and is in a low-lying area, a woman resident said.
Meanwhile, flash floods triggered by the extremely heavy rain in the Western Ghats damaged barricades at Old Courtallam Falls, following which bathing was banned in all waterfalls across the district.
The Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve banned tourism activities in Manimuthar Waterfalls and Thalaiyanai areas.
In Tirunelveli, Cheranmahadevi (10.4cm), Ambasamudram (9.4cm), Manjolai (9.2cm) and few other areas received good rainfall.
Around 10 rainfall stations received light rainfall in Kanniyakumari district.From Thursday evening till Friday morning, Mylaudy and Balamore received 10.2 mm and 8.4 mm rain while Bhoothapandy and Aralvaimozhi received 4.2 mm and 4 mm rainfall.
In Nilgiris district, debris from the landslip fell over the parked cars at the Reily compound, and trees fell over the power cable, resulting in disconnecting the power supply. Nilgiris district collector Lakshmi Bhavya Tanneeru visited the rain-affected areas and said that there was no damage to the properties or public. The Nilgiris district had received a total of 980.6 mm and an average rainfall of 31.63mm in the last 24 hours ending on Friday 7am. Coonoor had received the highest rainfall of 215 mm.