NILGIRIS: The body of one more person who was swept away in a flash flood at Kedarhalla stream was recovered seven kilometres away, at the tail end of the stream, at Anaikatti village in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) on Wednesday afternoon.
The villagers spotted the S Suseela (56) along the stream which is the linking point of the Kedarhalla and Moyar rivers near the community hall in the village at 2.15 pm. Police sent it to Ooty GH for postmortem and then handed it over to her family in the evening.
Revenue and forest officials said water flow still has not receded in the stream as the rain continued on Tuesday night in the surroundings of Doddabetta and Chinna Coonoor. Instructions have been given to the people not to visit the temple until the water recedes.
M Rajasekaran, Ooty Tahsildar said district collector SP Amrith has instructed to prepare an estimate for constructing a high-level bridge to avert such incidents in future.
Deputy director of MTR P Arun Kumar told TNIE that they will soon conduct a meeting with the representatives of the temple and come out with a plan to allow devotees at the scheduled time. "We have already been instructed about the movement of wild animals and the people are also aware of it.
Monday's incident was unexpected as water flow increased suddenly. People do not visit the temple every day, but only on auspicious days. We have been monitoring the people who are all entering," he said.
Meanwhile, the Covai Courtallam waterfall near Chadivayal was closed due to increased water flow on Wednesday.