Hundreds marooned in their houses

The worst affected were residents of Frederick Settlement, Caroni, La Paille Village, officers of the Caroni Police Station, and Caroni Village.

Villagers of Kelly Village and El Carmen were spared the horror of massive flooding due to the dredging of the main river in their area.

The widespread flooding started around 5 pm on Thursday when the Caroni River burst its banks causing flood waters to rise as high as five feet.

Residents of La Paille Village, Frederick Settlement and surrounding villages spent a sleepless night on Thursday, unable to do anything about the situation.

Their kitchens, living-rooms and in some instances bedrooms were flooded with murky waters.

Some people cried out in frustration, others simply stared in amazement, while others waited for the water to subside.

By 3 pm yesterday, homes were still flooded and affected residents were unsure how to deal with the situation.

At Caroni Village, Rita Balroop, a social worker who was supposed to have a Hindu prayer meeting at her home was forced to abort her plans because the pundit was unable to get to her home because of the flood waters.

Balroop said that she was not daunted, and instead felt good that she was able to feed hundreds of villagers who were unable to cook food in their homes. Villagers of Caroni said that the flooding is the worst that they have seen and blame a recent NHA housing development for the massive flooding.

They said that when the project started, the developers did some illegal movement of earth from the banks of the Caroni River.

They believe that this undermined the whole situation and caused flooding in their area.

At the Caroni Police Station, the situation was grim for the officers working there.

They added that they were unable to leave the station since Thursday afternoon, when the station became flooded.

Officers assigned for work on Thursday night were unable to gain access into the station.

Officers were forced to evacuate the sniffer dogs to higher ground when the flood waters rose to about five feet inside the station.

The newly constructed Vishnu Boys Hindu College was also flooded.

Yesterday, Dr Myron Chin, of the Office of Disaster Preparedness in Trincity, said that relief teams were sent out yesterday to survey the situation in the flooded areas and help will be made available today.

He said that CEPEP workers will assist in the removal of sludge and mud, and food and necessities will be distributed.