Tamil Nadu   

Bad weather dampens tourist spirit in Udhagamandalam

Special Correspondent

Incessant rain and strong winds uproot trees at many places

NO TAKERS: The boathouse at Udhagamandalam wearing a deserted look on Sunday.

UDHAGAMANDALAM: With the weather remaining inclement in many parts of the Nilgiris, the flow of tourists has slowed to a trickle.

While the boathouse here remained closed for the second day on Sunday, the Government Botanical Garden and the Dodabetta Peak wore a deserted look. Sanjeev Sharma, General Manager, Taj Leisure Hotels, told The Hindu that the tourist arrivals had dropped. Even those who had booked rooms had been forewarned about the conditions.

Some of the tourists, who braved the weather to move around the town, were downcast, their sightseeing plans having been derailed by the weather. Incessant rain, accompanied by strong winds, continued uprooting trees in several parts of the district.

As many trees had fallen either across the roads or on buildings, wood cutters were in great demand. At a number of places, the trees had fallen on high-tension lines. On the Ooty-Emerald road, five trees fell at one place early on Sunday.

G. Murugan, Assistant Engineer, Highways Department, said though many workers were pressed into service to clear the road, traffic remained disrupted for hours. A sawyer said that since some trees were very big, it took a long time to cut them to pieces. Hundreds of trees had fallen, causing damage to electric posts and high-tension wires at many places, TNEB Assistant Engineer M. Sampath said that even if the weather improved, it would take 10 days to repair the damage.

Work on restoring power supply to affected areas was in full swing, despite the constraints. The damage had once again underscored the need to convert all the overhead lines into underground cables, he said.

Nilgiris North District Forest Officer Mohamed Iqbal Basha said Forest Department employees had been asked to remove the fallen trees without delay. The situation was being monitored round the clock.

Collector (in charge) C. Rajakumar said the heads of educational institutions had been authorised to take decisions on closure of schools and colleges.

Additional Superintendent of Police S. Munusu said though police teams were constantly patrolling vulnerable areas, non-availability of equipment like power saws was preventing them from clearing roadblocks fast.

A few boulders fell at Manthada on the Ooty-Coonoor highway on Sunday. However traffic was not hit.

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