Torrential rains in Coonoor claimed the lives of two children on Wednesday night.
Rains which started late Wednesday evening became heavy during the night.
In the downpour, a retaining wall collapsed at residential area Mount Pleasant, and the granite stones fell on the house of Ramesh, a jawan of the Madras Regimental Centre now serving in Sikkim. While his wife Kavitha was grievously injured, daughters Sweety (6) and Shiny (4) were crushed to death.
The bodies were taken to the mortuary at Coonoor Government Hospital, and Kavitha was admitted to the Military Hospital in Wellington.
Nilgiris Collector Archana Patnaik who visited the spot to oversee relief operations said that since there was speculation over what had caused the wall collapse, Coonoor Revenue Divisional Officer Gandhimathi has been instructed to go into the circumstances that had led to the tragedy.
Pointing out that preliminary investigations revealed that the drainage system in the area was poor owing to storm water drains being covered with encroachments, she said that a plan of action would be evolved to
create water outlets there. Compensation would be given as per government norms to Mr. Ramesh who is rushing to Coonoor from Sikkim. In view of heavy rains in the district, and the possibility of the occurrence of landslides, the district machinery has been geared up to deal with any exigency, Ms. Patnaik said.
Railway sources said those in charge of the day to day operations of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) have been instructed to take appropriate precautionary measures.
