Agencies/Chennai

Residents in Tamil Nadu capital Chennai were yesterday grappling with the aftermath of devastating floods as authorities stepped up relief work following the worst deluge in decades that killed over 250 people in the state.
Thousands of people in Chennai took to the mud-filled streets to buy essentials as authorities worked to restore communication and road networks after Tuesday’s record rains worsened weeks of flooding, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents marooned in the city.
Residents jostled at grocery stores, petrol stations and cash machines, with the city reeling under a severe shortage of supplies, including drinking water, after the rains finally stopped on Thursday.
“I had to wait almost three hours at the petrol station with more than 200 people trying to get fuel,” local resident V Prabhakaran said, adding filling stations have started rationing petrol.
Unlike some areas such as Mylapore, Adyar and Annasalai where the water level has receded and electricity supply partially restored, people in many pockets in north Chennai continued to remain cut off.
“Rumours of surplus water being released are also a cause of serious worry,” Revathi Vasan of West Mambalam, said.
She said power supply has not been restored in her Janakiraman Street while there was water-logging around her apartment complex and on the roads.
“There is nothing much to say about our situation except that we are still living with our kind neighbours,” she said.
In the neighbouring Kodambakkam area, residents were complaining of stagnant sewage water for the past several days which the civic authorities are not attending to.
“All we want is the removal of the block in the sewage line,” said a resident.
Several people complained of the absence of any relief.
“No official agency brought us any food or drinking water. Only the residents of neighbourhood brought us some biscuits, and drinking water,” an angry resident of MGR Nagar in Ramapuram in Thiruvallur was seen complaining to a local television channel.
In Korukkupet in north Chennai, a resident complained that nobody from the government or any political party visited her locality to offer relief.
In several localities, apartment owners pumped out stagnant water through hired pumps.
Fish carts and two-wheelers were used to transport patients to hospitals during the past three days, said a hospital official.
N Sathyabhama, director of medical services and quality, southern region at Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd, said the hospital received patients from several other hospitals affected by floods and power cuts.
“Some patients came by fish cart. One was brought by her brother on the bike as that was the only means of navigation through the heavily-flooded Greams Lane (where the hospital is located),” Sathyabhama said.
She said there was no power supply for 57 hours in one block and 69 hours in another and the situation was managed with generators.
The government-run Royapettah Hospital and Sri Ramachandra Hospitals also got patients from the hospitals affected by floods and power cuts.
Meanwhile, a political spat was sparked over purported attempts by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members to paste stickers of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on relief material.
Criticising the move, Pattali Makkal Katchi leader S Ramadoss said: “The ruling party members are not interested in relief works but are interested in getting publicity.”
He said vehicles coming from outside with relief materials are let inside the city only after Jayalalithaa’s picture is stuck on the parcels.
Forest Minister M S M Anandan however told reporters that stickers with Jayalalithaas’ image are stuck only on relief materials sent by the AIADMK and not on packs sent by other organisations.
Finance Minister O Panneerselvam criticised actor Kamal Hassan for asking where the state government’s tax revenue was going, adding the actor was seeking cheap publicity.
Southern Railway yesterday announced operation of a special train from Chennai Beach Station to Bengaluru, while the reverse journey will be undertaken today. Suburban train services between Chennai Egmore and Tambaram have also commenced.
Army chief, Gen Dalbir Singh also flew into the city to review the situation and oversee rescue efforts.
Chennai, and adjoining Kanchipuram, Thiruvallur and Cuddalore districts were battered by record rains for the past one month, leaving at least 325 people dead, several thousands in relief camps and millions affected due to lack of drinking water and power supply.