India's rain-drenched city of Mumbai, where almost 1,000 people lost their lives in a week-long deluge, surged back to life yesterday but aid workers still battling to get relief to battered areas warned the worst is not yet over.
Streams of office-goers poured from railway stations into the streets holding colourful umbrellas against the occasional drizzle as schools, colleges and offices reopened.
Traffic jams returned as residents, who had been urged by police at the height of the monsoon torrents to stay indoors, drove to work. Buses, taxis and three-wheelers added to the chaos.
"As of now the city on the whole is normal," said Mumbai municipal commissioner Johny Joseph. "But we are not taking any chances and 147 medical teams are working round-the-clock to prevent any outbreak of diseases.
"More than 300 trucks and bulldozers are also on the roads to clear 15,000 tonnes of garbage being thrown into the streets by the residents every day -- which is three times of what we normally see," Joseph told AFP.
A total of 993 people have died across the state including Mumbai since rain began pounding the city on July 25, according to police figures.
The situation in other parts of the state was still serious, said police chief P.S. Pasricha. He said extra rescue teams from the navy had been rushed to flooded areas in the southwest.
"More teams have been put on standby if the situation worsens," he added.
Some 60,000 villagers living alongside rain-swollen rivers, lakes and dams across the state were moved to higher ground during the night on Monday as officials were forced to release water from dams, causing downstream flooding.
In Mumbai, city air and rail services were nearly back to normal yesterday after the heaviest downpours in the city's recorded history shut the country's busiest airport and halted long-distance train services.
Trains along the northern outskirts of the city remained disrupted, however, and flights still erratic.
"The focus now is to stick to time schedules," said Jitendr Bhargava, spokesman for international carrier Air India.
Aid organisations such as Oxfam, ActionAid International and the Humanitarian Aid department of the European Commission (ECHO) held a meeting overnight to discuss relief and rehabilitation programmes being undertaken by the state government.
"The situation is under control in certain areas," said P. Unnikrishnan, a spokesman for ActionAid International. "[But] in some places there is not enough to eat. There is a shortage of chlorine tablets.
"It is time for a reality check. The media and television channels portray Mumbai's economic might and think receding waters are good. The ground situation is entirely different. Relief materials are only reaching isolated places."
Residents, complaining that the government had failed them during the crisis, vented their anger on state Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh who took to the streets to witness the damage first-hand Tuesday, media reports said.
Residents complained that they had no electricity or fresh water and that no government official had visited their suburbs, some of which were still under water yesterday.
Analysts and economists have put the weather damage at around US$888 million.
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