Rodents frighten Penal/Debe residents after flooding

WITH the weekend torrential thundershowers causing major flooding which damaged property and destroyed crops, Penal/Debe residents on Monday had to face a new potentially dangerous nuisance as thousands of rats invaded streets and sought higher ground as floodwaters inundated the rodents’ homes. However, when Newsday checked with Chairman of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation, Dr Allen Sammy yesterday, he reported that the frightening rodent invasion ended late Monday evening and things were back to normal. Sammy said the corporation received numerous calls from concerned residents begging for assistance to get the rodents out of houses, garages, basements and business places. “People have been calling the corporation since the massive flooding of last week, asking that we send crews to bait their premises,” he said.

Sammy opined that the rats had been “driven out of their underground homes by the surging waters and sought refuge on higher ground.” He said other creatures including snakes, scorpions and centipedes also temporarily sought shelter in residents’ homes with the onset of the floods. He said the corporation was preparing leaflets on how to deal with the infestation, including guidelines on how to properly bait traps and what types of bait were to be used. “The corporation has a supply of rat bait which is readily available to the public but we need to supply the necessary information on its proper use and disposal,” he said, adding the leaflets would also include guidelines on mosquito eradication procedures.

Meanwhile, Sammy said the corporation, which had been advised to divert funds to secure equipment to clear clogged drains and other watercourses by Prime Minister Patrick Manning on his recent tour of flood prone areas of Barrackpore and Penal, had instead used “lines of credit” to secure ten backhoes and two excavators to begin the clearing works. “The Prime Minister wanted us to use funds which had already been assigned for other uses, including salary and wage payments and other expenditure,” he said, adding a letter was currently being drafted outlining the corporation’s concerns and flood relief requests.