Heavy Rains: NDRF team in Nilgiris, holiday declared to schools, colleges

UDHAGAMANDALAM: A 40-member National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team arrived here on Tuesday to meet any eventualities and carry out rescue operations, following heavy rains being experienced in the Nilgiris district. The district administration declared holidays to educational institutions on August 3 in anticipation of more rains forecast by the Met department.

The NDRF team was rushed to the district from Arakonam early Tuesday and will be deployed to Coonoor, Gudalur and Kothagiri in batches, official sources said. Anticipating landslides and the falling of trees due to incessant rains, district Collector SP Amrit declared holiday for all the schools and colleges Wednesday, they said.

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Fire and Rescue personnel and police departments were put on alert to meet the challenges of the rains, even as 243 areas prone to landslides are under strict surveillance, they said. All the 14 reservoirs are brimming to full and the administration may release the surplus water at any time and alert the people living in low-lying areas and banks of rivers to move to safer places.