Bad weather causes street/flash flooding in Penal, Debe

Members of the disaster management unit (DMU) of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation spent hours helping burgesses affected by the flooding on Thursday evening and Friday, said the corporation’s chairman.

Dr Allen Sammy said many people were stranded in their homes, and the DMU was on standby to help pump out water.

"People asked for assistance to pump water from their homes, and they are getting that. A few trees also fell. We have the usual problems. Flooding in Penal/Debe is no longer a big deal to the public because it is so frequent. It does not make it right," Sammy said.

"The thing is people are suffering tremendously. Parts of the Penal Rock Road were impassable."

The chairman added that the Poodai Lagoon at Goodman Trace was flooded.

"We made efforts to clean it during the day. That lagoon falls under the Agriculture Ministry, but the people always call us because no other agency more as quickly as we do."

When Newsday visited Penal and Debe, there were several street/flash flooding in low-lying areas in light of the bad weather.

Near the Kubairsingh Penal Rock Road Hindu Primary School, water flowed across the road and into nearby rivers. Within a few hours, the water subsided.

Several other parts of the Penal Rock Road, like near Goodman Trace and Crawford Trace, were flooded.

There were also pockets of flooding at Gopie Trace and Suchit Trace.

On Friday afternoon, the (Meteorological Service) Met Office downgraded the weather alert from orange to yellow level.

The Met Office calls on people to refrain from wading or driving through flood waters.

It also advised people to monitor weather conditions and river levels.