Around 500 workers cleared up the annual Tet flower display on Nguyen Hue pedestrian street of downtown Saigon on Tuesday night. 

A family of cheerfully designed critters celebrating Year of the Rat is dismantled following a festive week on Nguyen Hue flower street, one of the biggest annual events in Vietnam’s southern metropolis heralding Lunar New Year, or Tet.

This three-meter-high rat statue weighs nearly 50 kg.

Truong Ngoc Thanh Tu, a representative of the flower street monitoring unit, said the clean-up force included sanitation workers, electricians, staff from tourist areas, and security guards.

"They had to work through the night to return the pedestrian street to its original appearance as the seven-day Tet holiday draws to a close," Tu said. The seven-day Tet holiday wraps up on Wednesday.

The giant rat mascots will be relocated to tourist spots like Dam Sen in District 11, Van Thanh and Binh Quoi in Binh Thanh District.

Most of the flowers and plants are thrown away, with only a few sent to tourist areas.

"After nearly ten years cleaning up the flowers, I always hope the street would remain open a little longer, which is impossible as the plants would wither," said Hao (R). 

"This year flower quality is quite good, many still fresh after a week," she said. 

Expensive flowers such as orchids, rhododendron or yellow Mai, the traditional New Year flower in southern Vietnam, are loaded onto trucks destined for tourist areas or private gardens.

Scores of flowers are disposed of as they cannot be reused.

Workers remove the 'environment' display that highlights the need for recycling and waste treatment, water conservation, and forest protection. "The clean-up mainly involves cutting power, clearing flowers and removing scaffolding," said 45-year-old worker Van Tien.

A group of workers move this giant, festive watch that features the 12 animals of the zodiac out of the flower street. 

Removal of scaffolding to construct elaborate scenery requires a little more precision.

Bulldozers, excavators and trucks are mobilized to clear the area after flowers are moved.

When the flowers were thrown into the garbage trucks, some locals rushed to bring some pots home. 

"This year a fence was built close to the sidewalk of Nguyen Hue pedestrian street to prevent people from flooding the area to grab flowers during the clear out," said a