Udhagamandalam: Incessant rain, accompanied by heavy wind, disrupted normal life in the Nilgiris on Saturday. Several trees were uprooted across the district, particularly in Gudalur block, bringing traffic to a grinding halt.

Fire and rescue services personnel, along with the highways and revenue departments, are actively working to remove the uprooted trees to restore vehicular movement in affected areas. Power outage was reported in many areas.Avalanche recorded the highest rainfall of 113mm in the 24 hours that ended at 7am on Saturday, followed by Pandalur (108mm), Devala (84mm), Upper Bhavani (37mm) and Ooty (26.4mm).At least 13 trees were uprooted in Ooty, Gudalur and Coonoor taluks.

Kotagiri and Coonoor taluks were not affected much, as the rainfall was less.In view of the red alert issued for the Nilgiris, the forest department has announced that Pine Forest and Doddabetta Peak in Ooty would remain closed for tourists on Sunday. Also, boating has been suspended in the Ooty lake for two days until Monday.A 30-member NDRF team is stationed in the Nilgiris, as part of the disaster management programme.

R Lalitha, the Nilgiris district monitoring officer, along with collector Lakshmi Bhavya Tanneeru, inspected vulnerable areas and relief camps in Ooty on the day. "Disaster management machinery is in place in the district to tackle any emergency," the collector said.