Tourist spots reopen in the Nilgiris as rain subsides

Tourist spots in the Nilgiris district, which were closed from October 24 to 26 following a heavy rain warning issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), reopened on Tuesday (October 27).

According to a release issued by Collector Lakshmi Bhavya Tanneeru, buses have also been permitted to operate as usual via the State Highway connecting Kotagiri and Mettupalayam.

However, vehicular traffic on the Coonoor–Burliyar–Mettupalayam National Highway remains suspended until further notice as repair work is under way on the stretch.

The closure has also affected tribal communities living along the Kallar–Katteri stretch of the highway. Shops run by tribal residents have been inundated with water and mud, damaging their premises and disrupting sales due to the suspension of traffic. The disruption has affected livelihoods in around 25 tribal hamlets along the route.

The district recorded an average rainfall of 0.19 mm in the 24 hours ending at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, with only Porthimund in Udhagamandalam taluk receiving rain (6 mm), according to the district’s daily rainfall report.

The report recorded no human casualties, injuries or livestock losses. However, it listed 10 partially damaged huts, eight fallen trees, four landslips and two damaged revetments across the district.

Meanwhile, the recent landslides have renewed calls for a scientific, long-term approach to disaster prevention in the Nilgiris. The Nilgiri Documentation Centre has called for the district administration to compile and publicise findings from earlier landslide studies, including risk assessments and rainfall thresholds for vulnerable slopes along the Burliyar–Coonoor corridor. It has also stressed the need for greater vigilance and preventive action, rather than limiting disaster management to rescue and rehabilitation after landslides occur.

Environmental observers have also flagged road expansion, indiscriminate slope cutting and increasing tourism traffic as factors that could aggravate the vulnerability of the fragile hill terrain, and called for coordinated action by government departments.