THA launches relief effort

COREY CONNELLY

ALLAN Stewart, director of the Tobago Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) says the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) has launched a relief effort for Trinidadians who have been affected by Saturday's deluge.

"They would be picking up stuff from as early as tomorrow morning (today) , donations of relief items that could help those persons who have been affected in Trinidad. It is spearheaded out of the office of the Chief Secretary," he told Newsday, a day after widespread flooding wreaked throughout Trinidad.

The flooding came in the aftermath of heavy rainfall, which was caused by an active Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). Stewart said although Tobago was also affected by flooding and landslides, it had been spared the brunt of the deluge.

However, he said Tobagonians should not be complacent. "We should consider ourselves to be very fortunate so far. But we are not yet out of the woods," he said.

"As I tell people, based on my experience, the amount of rainfall that we would have had, you may just hear something collapse, a house may collapse or a tree may fall, causing injury to somebody of someone's property. Those are possibilities, especially if you have any little wind."

Stewart said teams were in the field carrying out damage assessments and attending to the remnants of several landslides in parts of Tobago.

"We are attending to pockets of mini landslides that may be along the roadway, that may become a hazard to the road users.

"That is the work that is cut out for us, to do damage assessments and needs of persons who may have been affected and also removed whatever debris or deposits that are on the roadway." Heavy rainfall, which began last Wednesday, triggered widespread flooding across the country on Saturday.

So extensive was the flooding, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley labelled it a national disaster and said he would go to the Cabinet to seek $25 million in flood relief for affected citizens. In Tobago, the persistent rainfall caused the Curry Duck Lime, a precursor to the popular Blue Food Festival, to be postponed.

The Blue Food Festival is expected to take place today, as originally scheduled at the Bloody Bay Recreation Ground. Stewart said several of the landslips occurred on the north side road, particularly along the routes to the festival. "We are just making sure there are no landslides in those areas that may impede pedestrians in any way."

Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles said in a statement on Saturday TEMA had confirmed that weather conditions were likely to become more severe as the ITCZ intensified.