Elderly sisters count flood losses

UNDER threat from rising floodwaters inside their home at Morne Diablo in Penal, one of two elderly sisters climbed through a window to safety over the weekend. It was the second time in weeks that Patricia Nelson, 71, had to climb through a window owing to flooding.

“Climbing out was not a problem. I used a chair. That flood about four weeks ago, was a trial run. It was not as bad as this one we had on Saturday. That time I climbed out too,” she said during an interview on Sunday at her Quarry Road home. Heavy rains on Saturday caused several areas across Trinidad to flood.

Nelson and her sister Theresa Bon-Bruce, 71, who owns the house continued clean-up operations on Sunday on the ground floor of the building whose top floor is under construction.

The two were at home with their 51-year-old niece Girsha Nelson who is physically and mentally challenged when flood waters began rising.

Members of the NGO, Community Women in Action, including president Shurla Miguel and secretary Claire Aguillera, came to the rescue to help clean up and secure household items. Bon-Bruce said that in the past, floodwaters entered the yard only. Flooding a few weeks ago was the first time flood reached inside the house.

“We do not want this to happen a third time, it is too much stress. We thanked the women and neighbours for all their help. Yesterday (Saturday) we had sandbags at the front door, and the water still entered inside. The fridge is not working, all the furniture and clothes are water-soaked,” Bon-Bruce said.

“Everything happened fast, and the water reached knee height in no time. I was calling my sister and knocking on the door to see where she was. But she did not answer. I got out, and our niece went upstairs.”

She said the nearby drains are too small to handle the volume of water when heavy rain falls. They were built years ago at a time when there were not as many houses in the community as there are today.

“Over time people built more houses. Another issue is that when workers clean the drain, they put the rubbish on top of the drain. Now what sense that makes, eh? When the rain falls the rubbish gets washed back into the drain,” Bon-Bruce said. She called on the authorities to expand the culverts and clear the drains.

Bon-Bruce said: “Even if they cannot do both one time, they should clear the drains. We also heard that parts of a river in the area which runs on private property was blocked. Maybe this could be the reason for such bad flooding of late,” she said.