TAMIL NADU: A bus was damaged after a tree fell on it due to a landslide following heavy rainfall, in Burliyar between Mettupalayam and Coonoor in Nilgiris district on Thursday. No injuries were reported in the incident.
As a result, traffic was halted on the Mettupalayam and Coonoor route, and the public was asked to take the Mettupalayam-Kotagiri route instead.
According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Coonoor received 77 mm of decent rainfall, whereas Mettupalayam received 37 cm of extreme rainfall in a single day.
Meanwhile, the Indian Railways on Wednesday suspended train services on the Nilgiri Mountain Rail Route (NMR) between Coonoor and Mettupalayam following heavy rainfall and landslides in the region.
A mudslide occurred in the region and debris from it had blocked the railway track at Hillguro between Kallar and Runnimedu, officials with Railways - South Salem Division said.
As rains are expected to continue, as per the IMD forecast, the mountain train service has been cancelled as a precautionary measure.
A cyclonic circulation is likely to emerge over the South Andaman Sea and its neighbourhood around November 25, as per the Chennai Meteorological Department.
According to the IMD, heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places over Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Dindigul, Theni, Madurai, Sivagangai, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Toothukudi, Tirunelveli, Thenkasi and Kanyakumari districts of Tamil Nadu & Karaikal area, as well as Kerala and South Interior Karnataka.
Thunderstorms and lightning are likely to occur at one or two places over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry & Karaikal area, Lakshadweep, Coastal Karnataka, South Interior Karnataka, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, and Rayalaseema on Thursday.
Heavy rains in several districts of Tamil Nadu led to waterlogging and traffic jams. Water entered almost fifty houses in Erode's Annai Sathya Nagar locality after continuous rain.
District Collectors have declared holidays for all government and private schools in eight districts including Tenkasi, Viruthunagar, Pudhukottai, Nilgiri, Theni, Thirunelveli, Kanyakumari, and Thoothukudi on Thursday.
A senior weather scientist with the IMD on Tuesday said that a deep easterly wave prevailing over peninsular India could bring heavy rainfall in Tamil Nadu and Kerala over the next couple of days.
"Currently, the western disturbance is weak but it is gradually moving eastward. A fresh western disturbance is likely to develop around November 23. We can expect dark clouds over Northwest India around November 24-25. The weather will be mild. We can expect the maximum and minimum temperatures to not change much," Soma Sen, a senior weather scientist with the IMD, told ANI.