Finally, the Mayaro road visible once again

AFTER days of floods, residents of Cedar Grove and Mafeking Village in Mayaro were able to see and use the roads once more. Heavy rains lasting for several days caused the Ortoire River to burst its banks, flooding surrounding areas including the Mayaro road.

Some affected residents were marooned as flood water rose as high as five feet in some parts. The rains stopped this Monday but the flood waters did not subside until Wednesday.

“Finally after a week, we can actually see the road. With all the water and flooding it was just impossible to see. We hope that the Government really assist us because we were badly affected. We are hoping that life return to normal soon,” said resident Neil Mohammed.

As early as 7 am on Wednesday, people including students from the ASJA Boys’ College, San Fernando were busy washing out mud from the roads and taking away debris left by the flood waters. MP for Mayaro Rushton Paray told Newsday that flood victims were assessed by the Disaster Management Unit (DMU) and Social Development and Family Services Ministry.

“This exercise is continuing and we hope to bring some sort of relief to those who were badly affected by the floods,” Paray said. He urged affected residents not to destroy or discard their damaged properties until the DMU assessment is done.

“This report will be used to assist in filing claims for Disaster Relief Grants and we will make every attempt to conduct it quickly for submission,” he said, noting that the relevant measures will be in place to pick up debris and damaged household items.

The MP was able to elicit corporate support from Oil Mop and Tucker and Laing to providing additional clean-up support to Cepep workers. Workers of the Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation were up to late yesterday still cleaning up the Mayaro area.

“I am working towards getting Insect Vector Control to come in to do some spraying now that the flooding has subsided,” Paray said.