Bamboo No 2 residents fear riverbank collapse

Roshan Naipaul, from Bamboo No 2, Valsayn, is concerned that his village may be inundated by a deluge of water.

The eastern bank of the St Joseph River, which borders Bamboo No 2 is currently collapsing. He is hoping the authorities will reinforce the bank before it gets worse.

"No one is coming to see it. If this breaks, many homes, businesses, school, etc, will be affected," he said.

On Wednesday, Naipaul sent a video recording to Newsday to show the predicament his village is facing.

While he was at the riverside, about a foot of embankment crumbled into the river. He marked four feet of earth which he believed might crumble next. He said he does not know if it is hours, days or weeks, before there is extensive flooding in Bamboo No 2.

"Any point in time that bank could break and give way."

Bamboo No 2 is opposite the Cipriani Labour College on the southern side of the Churchill Roosevelt Highway, near the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries Division and its pond.

Naipaul said the threat increased in 2019 when a contractor, who was cleaning the river, destroyed the secondary embankment at water level.

"The excavator operator completely cut away the lower bank, removed it entirely. My cousin ask about it, but he became aggressive."

He said many of the nearby residents are his family. While he lives closer to the Bamboo Main Road, some relatives live two metres away from the river.

Whenever it rains, there is usually flooding from a nearby ravine, but only about two-three inches deep, or ankle height, he said.

"If that riverbank break, we looking at hundreds of houses in Bamboo that could be affected.

"In 2018 flood, the lowest point in the village had over six feet of water. You couldn't go in there – only with boat you could get a true measurement of the water.

"If the bank breaks, all that water will be heading down that way – because at the very south of our village is the Caroni River."

Naipaul said the river is not usually high, but because of spring tides and a constantly filled Caroni at present, the St Joseph River is not getting a chance to go down.

Naipaul said the local councillor, Seema Ramsaran-Augustine, was aware of the situation. He was told she had contacted the supervisor for drainage and a site visit would be made, but no one has inspected the bank since the problem was reported a few weeks ago.

When Newsday spoke to Ramsaran-Augustine on Wednesday, she said she had informed the drainage superintendent again that morning, as another piece of embankment collapsed on Tuesday.

She said work had begun months before, but she believes it stopped because of the weather.

"We have been making reports. Almost every week a part collapsing. If God forbid, it keeps it raining, it could overflow. It could burst there.

"In 2018, lower down Temple Street, the bank burst, and that's how Bamboo No 2 was flooded out. I am hoping they could rectify the problem. It keeps getting worse.

" It could very well be a repeat of what happened in 2018, when two-thirds of the village was flooded out. "