Flooding turns South Trinidad into one big lagoon

The chairmen of both the Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional (MRCRC) and Penal/Debe Regional corporations (PDRC) yesterday described the widespread flooding caused by rainfall which started on Wednesday as being worse than the flooding left behind by Tropical Storm Bret on June 20.

Several points along the Cunapo southern main road were under five feet of water while there was widespread flooding in Navet, Jairam Trace, Lazaree Trace and the Poole Valley.

There was flooding also in the Quinam and Woodland areas, Siparia and Penal respectively while in San Fernando, the Cipero River burst its banks flooding Rooplal Avenue, Victoria Village. Motorists were advised to proceed with caution along the Manahambre Road as the pond at the defunct Usine Ste Madeline Sugar Cane Factory overflowed onto the nearby road.

MRCRC chairman Glen Ram said several families were left marooned in their homes while others had lost everything in the floods. “A lot of families have been affected, a lot of families have lost all their belongings. So I have spoken to the Disaster Management Unit coordinator from the Ministry, also the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and I am looking for some assistance because at this time we have no funding to purchase anything so I have asked for some relief in terms of hampers, mattresses,” Ram said.

“We have been hit very hard, I know farmers have been very much affected because there is a lot of water- we had done some work but there is need for additional funding to do more work in these areas,” he said.

“(Tropical Storm) Bret’s flooding was a joke compared to what has happened right now, Bret was nothing like this...it’s really a disaster,” he said. “We are transporting people on trucks to take them to their homes and bring them back out, I am hoping to god that nobody gets sick because it would be a headache to get them out of these areas,’ he said.

PDRC chairman Dr Allen Sammy said certain parts of New Colonial Road, Barrackpore could only be accessed by heavy vehicles such as three tonne trucks. “Since yesterday, Sheldon Road in Borde Narve flood out, eight houses were flooded and at certain points at New Colonial Road in Barrackpore cars cannot go through. The flood water is too high,” Sammy said.

“It’s probably worse than Bret in terms of the floods. Areas left dry after Bret were flooded yesterday as the rain fell non-stop for almost 15 hours. The high tide is also not helping the situation,” Sammy said. (See Page8A)