Corporation head: No pipe-borne water - Flood clean-up stalled in Woodland

CHAIRMAN of the Siparia Regional Corporation (SRC) Dinesh Sankersingh said the two days of incessant rain had totally wiped out the farming community in Woodland and other areas within his region.

With food prices already high, Sankersingh is predicting increasing costs as farmers grapple with their losses.

While no comprehensive assessment has been done to quantify the cost, Sankersingh surmised that the area would have suffered a tremendous economic loss.

While households would have suffered a different kind of loss, he said entire crops, wildlife, ducks, chickens, to be harvested for the farmers' livelihood, would have been completely destroyed.

On a tour on Wednesday, of the areas under heavy flood since Sunday, chairman of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation (PDRC) Dr Allen Sammy said the water in most of the area had subsided considerably.
At 1 pm on Wednesday, parts of Gopee Trace and Ragoonanan Trace were still under water.

The PDRC has done some post-flooding cleanup, but now that the floodwater has receded, those affected have encountered another challenge – no pipe-borne water to clean the mess left in the aftermath. Sammy said the lack of pipe-borne water had severely curtailed the clean-up.

“There is no water in the main, in parts of Suchit Trace, but that is par for the course. This is Penal/Debe and we suffer under normal conditions with no water in the WASA mains.

“A lot of Woodland is also without pipe-borne water and different parts of Penal/Debe have been without a pipe-borne supply for some weeks.”

The corporation continues to field requests from residents asking for drinking water and food because theirs were compromised.

Sammy said other regional corporations had pledged to assist and, from Thursday, backhoes from Couva, Princes Town and Tunapuna would be coming to help clear the watercourses which had been clogged by the debris brought down by the raging floodwaters.

The PDRC is also speaking with other corporations to assist in that respect, while its workers and volunteers have been formed into crews to clear roadside drains and help individual homeowners to clean their homes.

Sammy said, “We are proposing to continue over the weekend in that regard, where requests have been made.”

Sankersingh said the SRC was also helping the cleanup in Woodland, where over 100 households, with about 500 people, were affected. Mattresses were distributed to families whose homes were waterlogged.

He said water had receded considerably in areas such as Palo Seco, Erin and Cedros. The SRC also helped the George family, whose La Brea home was destroyed by fire after it was struck by lightning. At Happy Hill, Grants Trace, a family is also being assisted after a tree fell on their home.

Sankersingh again appealed to residents in flood-prone areas to not throw waste into watercourses.

While not ascribing blame to any individual, he appealed to residents to take responsibility. He also appealed to them to help in clearing around their homes, “and we would do our part in removing the debris.”

The Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service yesterday downgraded the riverine alert for South Oropouche to yellow level.

The Met Office also confirmed that floodwaters due to over-topping rivers (mainly the South Oropouche River) were gradually receding in some areas and that run-off would be slower near high tide times.

There is also a moderate risk of flooding in southeast Trinidad.