Penal man saves animals from floodwater

A 53-year-old Penal pet lover risked his life last Thursday by going into rising floodwaters to save his chickens and cats from being washed away.

Winston Sooknanan, who lives at Gopie Trace, lost seven pet chickens. He now has one chicken, four dogs, and 25 cats.

"I love animals, but I could not save all of the chicken. I got some rashes on my back from going into the water. The water has a lot of snakes, and I do not kill animals," he said as he hugged a chicken, a puppy and a kitten.

He removed lilies from the Black Water Channel to allow the floodwater to flow freely. The water was slowly subsiding on Friday when Newsday visited.

The ground floor of his plywood house, on the bank of the channel, was flooded. But the handyman said some residents were more affected.

He lives with his common-law wife, Samdaye Rampersad. She went to stay with relatives on Thursday, fearful of the rising water.

"I could not leave my pets here. I had to stay with them to make sure they are ok. Our house has two bedrooms, one for us and the other for the animal,’ Sooknanan said.

While the heavy rain flooded several homes, he believes some residents have contributed to the problem. He blamed a man for building a wall and preventing workers from cleaning parts of the river.

At Suchit Trace, a Venezuelan family was cleaning. Carlos Aranguren, 27, said when the water started to rise, he and other relatives put some household items on bricks and beer cases.

Six people, including his 13-month-old son, were affected when water entered the house.

The hardware worker said in Spanish: "I stayed home from work to help clean up. The house was also flooded last month. The water was very high. No one has offered us help, but if anyone wants to help, we will be grateful."

Penal/ Debe Regional Corporation (PDRC) chairman Dr Allen Sammy told Newsday the water had subsided. Many roads which were impassable on Thursday became passable on Friday, he said.

"There are still waters in some areas like Raghunanan Trace. The corporation has been working cleaning over the past few weeks. That is one of the reasons the flood in homes have been minimised," Sammy said. "We have been able to get away, to some large extent, from what other people have experienced, like major landslips."

PDRC encouraged people in flood-prone areas to get sandbags.

Sammy said, "We are prepared in that regard. We have distributed thousands of sandbags, and we still have more."