CHENNAI: Around 140 MT (metric tonnes) of tree waste (uprooted trees, leaves and branches) left behind by Cyclone Mandous on Friday have been swept off the streets of Chennai, said a city corporation report on Saturday.
Tree waste was largely the only trail left behind by the cyclone as city corporation worked overnight to clear most streets of any waterlogging by Saturday morning. Senior corporation officials told TNIE that a financial assessment of the overall cyclone damage in the city is yet to be carried out.
While 47.64 MT green wastes have been collected from zones 1 to 8, 93.42 MT of waste has been collected from zones 9 to 15. The Adyar zone had the maximum tree waste of 33.38 MT. The collected waste is to be processed in Kodungaiyur and Perungudi for northern and southern zones, respectively, sources said.
Around 85 trees have been uprooted due to the cyclone and sanitary workers were on their toes throughout their shift cleaning green waste off streets and sidewalks. Most of the uprooted trees have been removed, according to corporation reports. According to the Chennai city police, who also helped the civic body in clearing fallen trees in some areas, uprooted electric poles on five roads were also cleared.
“We will not be working overtime but we had our hands full since our shift started at 6am. The waste collected was almost four times more than the usual,” said a sanitary worker near Guindy. Chennai corporation commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi, mayor R Priya and deputy mayor Mahesh Kumar were on rounds across the city inspecting vulnerable areas from Friday night. Of the 911 pumps kept on standby, the civic body had used 329 pumps for draining water.
In other parts of the city, some fallen trees damaged public and private property including two bus shelters in Kilpauk and Kamarajar Salai and a petrol bunk in Egmore. When we did a spot check on the corporation’s newly planted saplings along the Adyar, we found that a few had been floored by the cyclone while most held their ground. Zonal officers and engineers are overseeing the cleaning work across the city