Forest Minister K. Ramachandran and the Nilgiris MP, A. Raja inspected the rain-affected areas in the Nilgiris on Friday.
Mr. Ramachandran and Mr. Raja visited VC Colony in Udhagamandalam and surveyed the damages caused to the public infrastructure by the rain in recent days. They handed over relief materials to the affected residents.
They visited the Ooty Lake and Boat House, where heavy rain caused a retaining wall to give way and collapse on Thursday.
Mr. Ramachandran told reporters the government was taking all steps to ensure that people whose homes as well as shops had been damaged were compensated. Anywhere between 10 and 15 houses in the Nilgiris suffered structural damage and efforts were under way to identify all the buildings that had been damaged.
The Minister said damage to retaining walls had also been reported at multiple places and that repairs were already under way in most places to prevent landslips and further damage to roads and houses.
The Nilgiris witnessed heavy rain on Wednesday night and on Thursday, with many of the low-lying areas becoming flooded. Municipal workers helped clean up many of the flooded homes in Khandal, which was heavily affected by the rain.
With heavy rain expected on Friday, a holiday was declared for schools and colleges in the district. However, only light rain was reported in the district till the evening.
