CHENNAI: As the Cooum and Adyar rivers continued to be in spate with excess waters released into them from various reservoirs, city’s slum dwellers were the worst hit with the rivers swallowing what little they owned.
Mallipoo Nagar, a slum in Adyar, now is a devastated village. The residents had to flee overnight as water sliced through the slum area, destroying houses and property. After noticing that the rains had begun their onslaught once again since midnight Tuesday, 150 families fled the area to safer spots like Corporation schools in Adyar area, and homes of relatives.
Kodhandam a labourer who fled his home early on Wednesday to his relative’s house near Ashtalakshmi temple (Besant Nagar) explained they had hopes against all odds that it didn’t come to this.
“The water was knee-high and we thought we’d wait for the rains to stop and decide on Wednesday morning if we wanted to move out. But the overnight rains were so bad the Adyar river water surged through our homes. Our clothes, TV, money, all were damaged,” he said and broke down.
Although some families in the slum on the Adyar river bank still await the rains to stop, many whose houses were near the gushing deluge have moved. The site is now a picture of a deserted colony.
“We want to go home, but how?” asks Pushpa. She and her two children have also taken refuge at her sister’s home in Thiruvanmiyur.
All homes near the brimming Adyar on Thursday morning was under alert, and many of the upmarket streets of Gandhi Nagar behind Fortis Malar Hospital too were not spared nature’s wrath.