Trees, in public and private spaces across the neighbourhood were the biggest casualties during the onslaught of cyclone Mandous Friday night.
This morning, every other street presented fallen trees or branches of trees – across Abiramapuram and Alwarpet, R. A. Puram and Mandaveli.
Civic workers were hard at work where uprooted trees caused traffic jams or blocked movement. Also, the waste was cleared to the street sides.
The avenue trees were the most battered lot – one reason for this is because civic agencies care little to safeguard the root system of the trees when they lay sidewalks or relay streets. This suffocates the trees. Also, some species of trees planted locally cannot grow deep and succumb in rough weather.
Also, local units of GCC hardly care to prune avenue trees from time to time and act only after a disaster. This was evident after the first spell of rain across 3/4 days in mid-November
