Coast Guard asked to help Central flood victims

JERRY DAVID, senior disaster management co-ordinator in the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government, said the Coast Guard has been asked to help residents of Kelly Village and St Helena stranded in floodwaters.

He was addressing a news briefing held by the Ministry of Works and Transport (MOWT) in Port of Spain on Thursday.

"We have to report we have areas in Kelly (Village) and St Helena now under riverine flooding."

He said on a recent tour of that area, the disaster co-ordinator for Tunapuna-Piarco Regional Corporation had told him some residents need rescuing as they were under four feet of water.

"I told them to contact the Coast Guard, and the Coast Guard has been calling me since yesterday, (asking), 'Do you need help?'"

He said he had told the Coast Guard help was needed in Kelly Village and environs.

David described such riverine flooding as inescapable.

"You know, the Moruga water is what ends up in Penal/Debe, and that the water that feeds the Caroni River comes from way up Arima side.

"So all that water is moving its way slowly downstream now. Based on the tide, you will find that it will stay in. When we have the low tide we expect it to go out a little bit, and that's how it works."

He lamented that many communities had been built in low-lying areas, saying, "We have to live with it."

David invited people to collect filled sandbags from regional corporations.

"We'll show you how to construct a sandbag dike or a sandbag wall to protect your home."

He urged anyone driving through floodwaters to be careful and bemoaned the sight of a person on a surfboard in recent floodwaters which he warned may contain pathogens (germs).

David warned that roofs in Trinidad were poorly installed so as to be vulnerable to gusty winds. However, he rejected recent claims on social media of 22 houses being damaged by a tornado at Erin, saying it was just six.

"The folks are going to put back on that roof the very same way. Problems again."

David advised anyone whose roof was lifted off by winds to build back better, using screws, not nails, and hurricane straps.

He described roof eaves as "ice cream for wind," saying once the wind gets in there, the roof would "peel off like a portugal."

David said it might be time to declare that planning approvals be also sent to his ministry's Disaster Management Unit to look at, adding, "We are the ones on the ground."

Saying his ministry will repeatedly help flood victims with tarpaulins and mattresses, he said, "We'll help, but there has to be a more permanent solution."