Bangalore: With practically no rain since late Thursday night, most parts of the city returned to normality on Friday.

While several areas in the northern and southern parts and on the suburbs continued to be waterlogged, most of the major roads could be used again.

The highway connecting Nagawara and Nandi Link Road was still cut off at some places. This road leads to suburbs such as R.K. Hegde Nagar, Saraipalya and Ashok Nagar (North) besides a number of villages.

Traffic police officers said with floodwaters fast receding, the stretch of Hosur Road around the flyover at Madiwala witnessed normal traffic again. Around the flyover at Lingarajapuram, vehicles began moving again on mud-splattered roads, but the barricades on the northern end remained; the road beyond was still flooded.

Families whose homes were flood-hit were still sheltered in some schools but many said they hoped to go back by the weekend.

Relief centres

Bangalore Mahanagara Palike has been operating five relief centres to help those most affected from the lower income groups at Jayamahal, Azad Nagar, Kamalanagar and two in Vrushabhavathi Nagar, to provide food, clothing and shelter in school buildings.

All schools are closed till Monday. At some relief centres, the people complained that the sleeping arrangements were inadequate. No medical personnel were available to treat ailments and injuries.

The BMP has also taken up spraying to control mosquitoes to prevent outbreak of malaria. The BMP dispensaries and hospitals had been stocked with drugs to deal with gastroenteritis and other likely epidemics, officials said.

The Health Department has appealed to people to use boiled or purified water and not to consume food sold on streets and not to walk barefoot in water, to avoid infections.

The fire services said they had received no distress calls since the previous night.

They were pumping out water in some flooded layouts near Nagawara and in the northern suburbs. Water was receding everywhere.

In other parts of the city, people shopping for Deepavali and Ramzan were on the streets again, and malls and stores were found crowded after a week during which most shopkeepers complained of steep fall in sales.

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