Flood advisories withdrawn but

At noon yesterday the Meteorological Office (Met Office) discontinued its flood advisories after three days of heavy rainfall.

On Tuesday, the Caroni River burst its banks flooding several communities, among them Valsayn South where residents found themselves marooned. A tree, uprooted in a landslide during a downpour along the North Coast Road, Maracas, crushed a car on Monday night killing two women and a ten-month-old baby boy. Two others were injured.

Trinidad and Tobago remained under a flood watch for the past few days as the Caroni River remained swollen.

However, meteorologist Bryan Thomas yesterday said the advisories were withdrawn since the water levels of the river and other watercourses were receding. The recent rainfall, he said, was consistent with the weather pattern for the rainy season.

However, the Met Office will continue to monitor the weather conditions and advisories will be issued when necessary.

An official of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM), who did not want to be identified, agreed with Thomas that the weather was stabilising. The ODPM, the official said, has received reports from various agencies that the water levels at rivers were receding.

And although the Caroni River’s levels were still high they did not pose any imminent threat.

As for the water supply, the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) said taps were no longer dry across communities in North Trinidad.

WASA had to disrupt supplies on Tuesday because of the high levels of sediment at seven treatment plants.

One plant, Tyrico Water Works was shut down because of a power outage.

WASA said all the plants were up and running except for the ones at Blanchisseuse and Tyrico, although it expected them to be operational once more by late yesterday.

In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of Works and Transport said three factors gave rise to the flooding: indiscriminate land development, conversion of flood plains for residential land and indiscriminate dumping of refuse.

The ministry said between January and June, the drainage division implemented a number of projects to mitigate flooding. Those projects saw six rivers and tributaries each in south, central and east Trinidad, and two in the north, being desilted and dredged.

The ministry said the division is continuing its ongoing programme of inspecting all major watercourses and implementing regular maintenance on flood defences and channels.

But the ministry is calling on the population to play its part to avoid blockages by not dumping rubbish or obstructing the flow of rivers.

The ministry also wants the public to advise it of any problems which may increase the risk of flooding.