Heavy rains disrupt traffic in Ambanad; schoolchildren among those stranded
Heavy rains stranded students in a jeep for hours after a tree blocked an Ambanad road. Locals and officials cleared the timber, safely reuniting the children with their anxious parents by evening.
Heavy rains stranded students in a jeep for hours after a tree blocked an Ambanad road. Locals and officials cleared the timber, safely reuniting the children with their anxious parents by evening.
Heavy rains stranded students in a jeep for hours after a tree blocked an Ambanad road. Locals and officials cleared the timber, safely reuniting the children with their anxious parents by evening.
Kazhuthurutti: Relentless downpours lashing the Thenmala Valley Ambanad plantation area since 3 pm on Thursday brought traffic on the Ambanad–Priya Estate road to a complete standstill. A jeep ferrying students from the Nedumpara TCNM Government Higher Secondary School back to Priya Estate was caught along the dense forest path. Nine students and three locals were inside the vehicle.
The children were stranded for hours as authorities failed to clear a fallen tree in time. Though locals managed to roll away boulders and chop off smaller branches, the path remained completely impassable for vehicles. The delay was primarily caused by the time it took for the Ambanad TR&T Company to dispatch a crew to saw through and clear the timber. Despite the driver, Mahesh, calling for help around 4 pm, no assistance arrived until well after 6 pm.
As weather conditions worsened, locals urged the driver to turn back toward Ambanad. However, he refused to take the risk, well aware that the route is notorious for wild elephant encounters and not wanting to endanger the children’s lives.
Intervening around 6 pm, Panchayat President Remani Vijayan dispatched a response team to clear the obstruction. By 7 pm, the tree was finally removed, and the stranded children were safely reunited with their anxious parents.
Heavy rains battered the Ambanad region late into the night. On a road already dilapidated, pothole-riddled, and dangerous, snapped trees and fallen branches brought traffic to a dead halt, leaving vehicles stranded on either side.
Near the tea estate, streams around the Arandal ‘New Line’ worker settlement swelled into raging torrents. A reservoir pond near the tea factory overflowed, with water gushing downhill through a damaged breach in its wall. Estate laborers living in the settlement lines spent the evening gripped by fear that the floodwaters would sweep into their homes.
With the downpour continuing unabated through the night, the workers were forced to keep a sleepless vigil until daybreak. Police officials, however, stated that the situation is currently under control and there is no immediate danger.