NILGIRIS: A 42-year-old private schoolteacher was killed in a landslide caused by a heavy downpour on Sunday night in Coonoor in Nilgiris.
According to the Coonoor police, the deceased, R Jayalakshmi, was employed as a Hindi language teacher at a private school in Coonoor.
She lived with her husband Ravindranath and two children aged 11 and 14 at Allai Sait compound, a low-lying area near Lakshmi theatre, enroute to Krishnapuram.
Around 9.40 pm on Sunday, Jayalakshmi ventured out of her home to check the impact of heavy rain in the vicinity when she was caught in a landslide that buried her and part of her home under 5ft-6ft of soil.
Upon information, fire and rescue services personnel rushed to the scene, and after two hours of struggle, with the help of locals, managed to retrieve Jayalakshmi’s body. Her husband and two children rescued from inside the house escaped with injuries.
Heavy rainfall over two days triggered landslide in Nilgiris
Coonoor Fire Station in-charge Subramani said that rescue personnel reached the spot within four minutes. “But we could not rescue Jayalakshmi as she got trapped and was suffocated to death.
The heavy rainfall over the past two days had loosened the soil, causing the landslide. But there was no damage to any other houses,” he added. Police confirmed the landslide had damaged only the hall of the teacher’s house, including the bedroom where the three other family members were resting, were intact.
The body was handed over to her husband on Monday after postmortem, police said. Nilgiris district received an average rainfall of 22.05 mm on Sunday, while Coonoor received 50 mm. Due to another landslide between Kallar and Hillgrove, Nilgiris Mountain Railway’s Mettupalayam-Ooty train was cancelled on Monday.
CM holds review meet
Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin on Monday held a high-level review meeting and asked officials to be prepared for efficient handling of sudden and intense downpours during the northeast monsoon which has become routine in recent years