MAJOR DISASTER OF OOTY

                                               MAJOR  DISASTER OF OOTY

Ooty faced the major disaster in the year 2009.Heavy rains triggered a series of landslides in Ooty, Coonoor and Kotagiri regions of the Nilgiris, about 600km from Chennai, killing 42 people in the past 48 hours. Most of the people were killed after the landslides slammed into their houses. Seven of a family died at Acchanakal hamlet near Ooty,” a source in district collector Anandrao Vishnu Patil’s office told DNA. “We have set up relief camps in the three regions and nearly 1,000 people have been sheltered there.”

The slides and uprooted trees also cut off access to Nilgiris via Mettupalayam and the district collector asked tourists to stay away from Ooty. “The approach road to Ooty from Tamil Nadu via Mettupalayam has been severely damaged. We received 310cm rain this morning. After 1978, this is the biggest rain-related disaster in the district. The road via Kotagiri is in slightly better shape which is why traffic has been redirected through it.

“However, smaller landslides and fallen trees are also blocking parts of the road. At this point, we can only say that there’s been a lot of damage but it’s difficult to say how much. It will be some time before we begin to assess the losses to roads, houses, crops and other property,” the sources said.The state government has announced a cash relief or Rs1 lakh each to the kin of those killed. Chief minister M Karunanidhi asked agricultural minister Veerapandi Arumugham and small industries minister Pongalur Palanichami to visit the district to assess the damage.