Emily caused extensive floods

During the course of Wednesday night, Trinidad was affected by high winds and heavy rainfall. By dawn feeder bands from Emily, which was upgraded to a hurricane, were still causing severe weather and the country woke up to extensive flooding, landslides and debris from fallen trees.

One house was reportedly washed away in Arima. The wooden structure, located close to the Mt Pleasant River, was swept away by the rising water, which flooded the Orange Flats area.

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) reported extensive flooding in all parts of the island, as rivers burst their banks. Several roadways were made impassable by the floods, while others were blocked by fallen trees and debris.

Some of the affected areas included Santa Cruz/Saddle Road, Siparia, Marabella, Mammoral, Maraval, parts of Woodbrook, the Churchill Roosevelt Highway in the vicinity of the Courts Megastore, Cunupia, San Raphael, Caroni, Talparo, Caparo, Felicity, Arima Old Road and South Quay in Port-of-Spain.

The City Gate transit hub was flooded as the East Dry River overflowed. By 9 am the water had receded but Piccadilly Street and Abattoir Road were covered in brown, murky flood waters.

Several landslides were reported in Matelot and Grande Rivere and fallen trees blocked the roadways. The public was advised to exercise extreme caution in those areas.

The ODPM said it was co-ordinating emergency operations with the fire services, police and regional corporations to fully mobilise in order to co-ordinate damage assessment and assist persons in need.

It said priority would be given to residents whose lives were under threat and those who lost their roofs.

The Red Cross was assisting the ODPM in Tobago with relief operations in north Tobago. It said there were reports that over 30 houses were affected in the area.

The Ministry of Works also confirmed that villagers in Blanchisseuse were cut off from the rest of the country as the Arima/Blanchisseuse Road at the 2 km mark had been split, creating a 40 foot drop. The road was immediately closed off to all vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

Engineers from the ministry were despatched to the area to determine what type of repairs would be needed and to explore alternative routes.

Ministry officials will monitor the situation over the next 24 hours and will issue further advisories as necessary.

The Aranjuez river bridge at Bridge Road, Aranjuez was also closed to vehicular traffic. The ministry said the closure was temporary due to damages caused by the storm. The bridge was expected to reopen at 6 pm yesterday.

The ministry’s engineers were mobilised and "sent on the field" as early as 6 am yesterday. Senior officials conducted an aerial tour to determine the areas most in need of assistance.

The hotline numbers set up by the ministry at its offices were hardly utilised according to persons monitoring the lines. Newsday was told there were no reports of personal injury and the southern part of the island was relatively unaffected, except for debris from trees due to high gusts of wind.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning, Works Minister Colm Imbert and acting National Security Minister Howard Chin Lee yesterday afternoon also took an aerial tour of both islands.