BEFORE AND AFTER: Residents negotiate a muddy and ravaged Alandur Road at Saidapet, while (at right) a civic worker sprays bleaching powder at nearby Chetty Thottam on Tuesday. — Photos: R. Ragu

CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation has started clearing the debris left by receding floodwater in several low level areas along the Adyar River in Saidapet.

Conservancy workers used broomsticks and other implements to clear the thick black muck from narrow alleys in Chettithottam on Tuesday. The waste was taken away by lorry and dumped on the riverbank. The areas were then fumigated by spraying disinfectants.

"We have started the clean-up in areas from where the water has started receding," said Joint Commissioner (Health) K. Manivasan.

The civic body is concentrating on clearing areas such as Jafferkhanpet, Raghava Reddy Colony, Thideer Nagar in zone 9.

30,000 evacuated

Of all the 12 divisions, zone 9 was the worst hit. Civic officials said they had evacuated 30,000 people from Kotturpuram, Chitra Nagar, Soorai pellam, Sathyamoorthy block, Jyotiammal Nagar and Thideer Nagar in the past three days.

"Out of the 35 boats used for rescue operation, 25 were used in these areas alone," said Mr. Manivasan.

After setting up relief camps, the Corporation has been providing food for nearly 3 lakh persons daily. Two major relief camps — Gandhi Mandapam and Government Model Secondary School near Saidapet bus terminus — had full-fledged medical teams as well.

Vaccines administered

One of the medical teams at Chettithottam administered vaccines to prevent outbreak of measles apart from distributing chlorine tablets to ensure that the drinking water was safe.

"So far we haven't encountered any health problems. We are distributing pamphlets asking residents to be careful and not wade through stagnant water to prevent leptospirosis," added Dr. Manivasan.

The civic body will mobilise conservancy workers to clean up other parts of the city from Wednesday.

Corporation officials said that relief camps operating from corporation schools and community centres would stay open for the next two days.

"We hope to finish cleaning up the areas by then. Hopefully, the water level will also recede by that time," said an official when asked about the disruption of classes in schools doubling as relief camps.

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