UNDER THE WEATHER

HAVING not yet recovered, mentally, physically and financially, from the major flooding of October 21, the country cowered in fear and apprehension on Wednesday night and yesterday as the latest Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) weather pattern brought with it heavy rains and subsequent flooding.

As of 4 pm yesterday, the Met Office was saying that its Adverse Weather Alert was to remain in effect up until eight o'clock last night while the Riverine Flood Alert which is at Orange Level, remains in effect until six this evening.

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM), in a press release, said it had received reports of flooding and landslides in several parts of the country yesterday.

Several areas within the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation, Point Fortin Borough Corporation, Sangre Grande Regional Corporation, Siparia Regional Corporation, Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation and Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporations suffered extensive flooding.

The ODPM received reports of fallen trees along the Toco Road and landslips along the Cunapo Southern Road where there was only single lane traffic for most of yesterday. The Manuel Congo and Caroni river had crested but up to press time, had not yet, overspilled their banks.

PACK UP AND GONE

In the HDC's Greenvale community in La Horquetta, residents at first prayed for the weather to clear up but some later decided not to take any chance. They hired flatbed trucks and loaded their household items before abandoning their homes.

Those residents who left, said that they had purchased household items to replace those which were destroyed in the October 21 flooding and they were not willing to wait and hope that the floods did not return for an encore.

Resident Shaka Wallace said he had been monitoring the weather since Wednesday night and was expecting the worst. Wallace lives with his wife and sons, aged four and five.

"We are all still traumatised from the October floods. We feel helpless right now. Many residents wish they could relocate right now, to show you how deep the fear is," Wallace said.

"The nearby rivers are quite high, the Manuel Congo River is centimetres away from bursting its banks and anxiety levels are very high," he added. Many did not go to work yesterday, many kept their children home from school. Many were fearing the weather.

HDC ON ALERT

A release from the Housing Development Corporation said it was active and on alert in Greenvale Park and Oropune Gardens. "Over the last 24 hours, HDC has been monitoring the water levels in the watercourses which border all its housing communities, with particular focus on Greenvale Park and Oropune Gardens which were recently impacted by flooding," the release stated.

Water pumps for both communities have been activated and flood bags have been distributed to residents who require them. The detention ponds in these areas are low at this time, which is a positive sign and there is still capacity to accept a significant volume of water, if rainfall increases, the HDC said.

Between October 19 and 21, major and prolonged flooding caused by three days of non-stop rainfall led to hundreds of homes throughout the country being flooded. The government paid out over $30 million in grants to flood victims and there was a massive outpouring of love and donations from private and corporate citizens to assist those who were flooded.