Sick resident flees after Fyzabad bridge collapse

RELATIVES of a cardiac patient whose home has been cut off by the collapsed bridge in Avocat Village, Fyzabad, managed to get her out on July 11, using a boat, as a precautionary measure.

Leena Seepersad, who turns 62 in October, is staying at the home of relatives after visiting a private doctor.

Seepersad had been complaining of shortness of breath for the past few days. She could not be taken for medical care after the bridge collapsed at St John’s Branch Trace in Avocat before dawn on July 10, cutting off over 40 villagers.

On July 11, her daughter Nadia Ramoutar told Newsday: “Since yesterday we wanted to take her out.

“She is resting. The doctor told her to rest.”

“Thank God for the kindness of the guys who came out to help her walk and get in and out of the boat. Daddy could not do it alone.

“She was feeling weak, and her blood pressure was high.”

Seepersad and her husband Sam Seepersad, 69, live together with their pets.

Ramoutar said her father fell in the boat while trying to cross the river on July 10.

“It was not a safe boat, and he was the first to fall. Right now, his right eye is red because the vines and grass from the river went in his eyes. He is using eyedrops and is okay.

“The boat Mummy used today was bigger and safer,” Ramoutar said.

Ramoutar expressed concern that it could become even more unsafe to cross the river during the rainy season.

“If the rain continues to fall, the lower-lying areas would flood. The bridge is blocking the water from flowing properly.”

When Newsday visited the site, no villagers were there. However, other villagers said some of those affected had relocated temporarily.

Fyzabad MP Dr Lackram Bodoe visited the site again on July 11, and once again called on the authorities to deal urgently with the bridge.

He said villagers continue to take measures to ease the problem.

“They created a step down to make it easier to access the boat. I made arrangements for them to use a bigger boat. Yesterday, they used a dinghy,” Bodoe said.

“The one today can carry two or three people safely across the water. Even though it is a short journey, we want to make it as comfortable as possible for them.”

He, too, expressed concerns about the possibility of flooding in the river – the Rio Negro River, which connects to the Godineau River.

Bodoe, an opposition MP, said he spoke to Rural Development and Local Government Minister Faris Al-Rawi, who promised to do something.

Calls to Al-Rawi went unanswered.

Asked about this on July 11, Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan said the bridge did not fall under his ministry.

"I did speak to (Bodoe) and I also spoke to (Al-Rawi)...Unfortunately, the bridge is on private land and the system that we use here in Trinidad (mandates that) if something is in a regional corporation and they can't handle it, then they pass it up to their line ministry, and their line ministry deals with it. If there is any technical assistance required from the Ministry of Works, then we will give them what ever assistance."

He added that he was certain the matter would be addressed as he was given that assurance by Al-Rawi.

(With reporting by Narissa Fraser)