Maria causes flooding in south Trinidad

Some of the affected residents are from the Cedros, Santa Flora and the Penal area.

The Siparia Regional Corporation (SRC) estimated yesterday that at least 20 houses were severely affected by the flooding at Bonasse Village, Cedros.

Vice-chairman of the Cedros Village council Anthony Steele believes a heavy overnight downpour on Monday and the discriminatory dumping of garbage are mainly responsible for disaster faced by residents.

“My neighbourhood has to understand that they cannot dump garbage and things like bottles, old mattresses and pillows. The water was so much in such short space of time. I cannot saw how much inches fell, but it was more than we ever witnessed in a long time. What made it worse, tide was full so the water couldn’t go anywhere,” Steele said.

Steele, also a community activist and worker of the Disaster Management Unit of SRC, added that contractors were repairing a bridge and so, water had to be diverted in the interim. He noted that while it contributed to the flooding, it was not the major factor.

Among those affected was 82- year-old amputee Jane Abraham.

Abraham has diabetes and hearing problems. Residents, using a pump borrowed from the nearby contractors, had to bail out water from Abraham’s home and removed her to safety. They also used buckets to bail out water from her home and other affected residences. Steele called on the ODPM to facilitate residents with a pump “for situation like this in Cedros”.

Councillor for Cedros Shankar Teelucksingh yesterday visited the affected residents among them Abraham. He added that about six weeks ago works started on the bridge which he said contributed significantly to the flooding.

Teelucksingh added: “Due to the work, the water had to be diverted and the volume of water was too much to handle. I am not blaming the contractor but the Minister of Works. My heart went out to those people and we are lending a hand.” At Santa Flora, murky brown flood waters surrounded several homes and residents said they expected it to recede by evening.

One home was surrounded by water and residents said it was a “normal” occurrence whenever heavy rain fall. They said that the water “normally” subsided in a few hours. Along the SS Erin Road, Quarry Village, Siparia, near Bajnath Trace, a tree fell and SRC workers had to cut and clear the debris from the road.

There were also reports of flooding along Penal Rock Road in Penal and environs.