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Red alert in 4 Tamil Nadu districts; heavy rain to hit Ooty

CHENNAI: With the northeast monsoon turning vigorous over Tamil Nadu , the regional meteorology centre has issued a 'red alert' for the district administrations in the Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Theni and Dindigul to be prepared for "extremely heavy rain" beginning Tuesday. They have been directed to take action on a war footing to prevent rain-related deaths as the four districts are expected to receive more than 20cm rainfall.




In the 24 hours ending 8.30am on Monday, Kanyakumari recorded 60.6mm rainfall followed by Coimbatore (48.5mm) and the Nilgiris (43.8mm). Heavy rain in the Kodaikanal hills in the last few days led to landslides in a few places on the Kodaikanal-Adukkam-Periyakulam national highway bringing traffic to a halt. The Dindigul district administration issued an advisory to public not to visit tourist destinations in the Kodaikanal hills for the next two days as a precautionary measure.

NORMAL LIFE HIT

Collectors asked to be alert, take precautionary steps

Authorities are planning to release 13,000 cusecs of water from Bhavanisagar dam in Erode district when the storage reaches 102ft on Monday night.

Normal life was disrupted in popular tourist destination Ooty and surrounding areas as rain continued to lash the hills.

A few trees were uprooted due to landslides, blocking traffic on the Ooty-Coonoor road.

A newly-built bridge in Madampatti near Coimbatore was washed away in the rain on Sunday night. Sources said the Tamil Nadu government was keeping a close watch on the reservoirs with most of them brimming or close to full capacity.

Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has convened a meeting of senior officials on Tuesday to take stock of the situation.

Collectors and monitoring officers have been given instructions to stay alert and take precautionary measures.

Heavy to very heavy rain is also likely to occur in isolated places over Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Salem, Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts on Tuesday, and heavy rain is likely to occur in isolated places over Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Pudukottai, Thanjavur, Cuddalore, Villupuram, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts.

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