Picking up the PIECES

But it only took a day and a half of torrential rain to see his livelihood washed away and more than $50,000 go down the drain.

Peters was one of the about 1,000 people affected in the North Coast fishing villages of Toco, Grande Riviere and Matelot when torrential rainfall overnight on November 29 and all day the following day triggered massive flooding, sea swells and landslides temporarily trapping thousands who live in the communities. Thanks to a quick response from the relevant authorities, roads were cleared and utilities restored. And now residents are counting their losses and trying to return to normalcy.

Assisting in that process is incoming Sangre Grande Regional Corporation chairman Terry Rondon.

Sunday Newsday joined him last week as he distributed bleach and drinking water and met with affected residents.

Among the first encountered were Peters and his son Leslie as they were clearing debris from the farm site which was dotted with broken branches and wounded cocoa trees. Peters informed Rondon they need a saw to remove a big tree that had fallen.

“I want to farm. I want to start to work,” he stressed.

Rondon said that of all those affected Peters had lost the most and he would be making an appeal to get a tree pruner for him to help with clearing. Leslie said his father had worked on the land when it was a cocoa and coffee estate and stayed on in 2001 when the then People’s National Movement government loaned land to farmers.

He said that with the flooding their 200 cocoa trees were falling down or bent over and they also lost their crop of fig, ochro, cucumbers, hot peppers and pimento.

“With the rain and wind we lost pretty much everything. The river run through the flat land,” he recalled.

He said they hoped the Agriculture Ministry would come and provide solace but so far only extension officers visited to evaluate the damage.

“After more than a week the farmers still left with nothing,” he added.

He also complained that the Works Ministry was dumping sludge onto the land and opening waterways on the top which was causing additional landslides.

“So it is a pressure scene. After the disaster there comes manmade disaster,” he said. He said they need to get saws to cut up the fallen trees. On compensation for losses, Leslie said they would “love that” but those things take time and they were currently concentrating on getting back to farming.

He expressed hope that the Agriculture Ministry would help them and the other eight affected farmers in the area to get back on their feet.

He explained that there was no other work for them and working the land “is basically the start and finish of it”.

As we drove along Grande Riviere we saw land-slips, lines of sludge and debris. There were also downed power lines, some pinned under branches.

“Backhoe up here more than motor car,” our driver remarked.

Landslides had revealed small waterfalls, some beauty from the ugly disaster. On the road, people spoke with Rondon about appliances they lost. We saw a basketball court with inches of mud caked onto the surface.

Rondon pointed to a bucking retaining wall which he was surprised did not fall down and was concerned that it would eventually.

He also showed us the Bacasa River. “I never know the river have so much stone and could do so much damage,” he said.

He recalled looking at the damage from a helicopter and seeing stones that had been carried 300 yards from the river.

“The whole landscape change. I couldn’t believe it,” he remarked.

Rondon showed us another little ravine which had left huge deposits of stone, sludge, large boulders, felled trees and other debris on either side.

We stopped at the St Helena Community Centre and dropped off more bleach. One man asked Rondon for a power saw to cut access roads.

“Real work to do.

It has blocked crossings. We need a backhoe,” he said.

Another man told Sunday Newsday that “water go in everybody house” and he was thankful that his house was tiled. A man complained that the works department in the area had only two men and called for a development programme in the area. Rondon agreed that there was “a lot of work to do”.

Throughout the journey, he informed residents about going to seek assistance from social services this week.

The final stop was a small parlour at Pike Street in Matelot.

Michelle Marshall, 43, from Cemetery Street, pointed that on her street and Santa Cruz Road there was no drainage “so all the water coming down and flooding across the road and coming down in our home”.

She said this has been occurring years before the flood. She explained that “everywhere got fix and pitch and the road never get pitch in there”. On the day of the flooding due to the lack of drainage the water came from the hills and straight down and “flood out the whole house”.

Marshall said a landslide blocked up the drain in the back of her house and water started seeping through her flat house. She was sleeping when it happened. Her daughter-in-law called and told her that their house had flooded out.

She and her husband “started walking in water too”.

She said her washing machine fell and was damaged. She reported her son lost a stove, bed, music boxes and their bed was damaged. Marshall said the response from authorities was “nice”.

“We got back current.

When we think that we weren’t going to get current in two weeks we got it back in about three to four days’ time,” she said.

Water, however, has not yet been restored to her home and she was not sure if her line had been damaged. She reported that people around her had their water restored.

She said the road was cleared quickly.

“But still in rural areas we need assistance like getting the backhoe and thing to clear up and get the drainage.

Because if a little rain come still the water keep running. So, we need to get the drainage and so on and the road pitch up,” she explained.

“Because it have children in the back there going to school too.” She said she would like to see drainage put in and the road in proper order “so we could be a little happy”.

Urban planner Dr James Armstrong, speaking during a telephone interview, said that whenever there is persistent rainfall in an area with that topography you are likely to have that sort of difficulty (flooding), noting climate was also a factor. He said officials must go back and look at road construction, drainage in the area and the way in which it was developed. He also advised they look at retrofitting and engineering standards as well.

William Coa, 51, from Andrew Street, recalled that following the disaster he and two other men walked from Grande Riviere to Matelot, among the first to do so. He described it as “devastation” and took photos to show his grandchildren.

“Since I living I never see this kind of devastation,” he said. He added there were people older than him who had never seen this kind of devastation either.

He explained that the infrastructure had “outgrown” the ravine system and most people on the hillsides were not controlling their water.

“The drains and them outlive that. The amount of little buildings it have. So, we need better infrastructure,” he said.

He explained that anything can happen in a natural disaster but things must be put in place before these things happen. He was glad about the response and had not lost much, just some furniture and chest of drawers.

He also lost his garden though he could not estimate the losses.

“What we need inside of here is more access road so we could do agriculture in a big way,” he said. He explained there is no industry in the area so it is either farming or fishing. He would also like to see more youths get employed by the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation.

“But the devastation for some people I know it real dread,” he said.