Poor drainage behind flooding

The Cipero River overflowed its banks Monday night with water inundating surrounding areas. Speaking on Wednesday during a tour of several affected areas throughout San Fernando, the southern city’s Mayor Junia Regrello said, “What I heard from one resident is that this river has not been cleaned in seven years.

This project falls under the Ministry of Works, not the Corporation, as this is a major water course.” “A lot of trees were allowed to grow in the drain which prevented the free flow of water.

If you look at the height of the river, you would be amazed that water was able to break the bank at that level. If the drains were cleared, that was not going to happen.” A flooded out resident was not pleased with the response she received from authorities when she called for help. “I just bought some of these appliances last week,” said Mearl Timla, a resident of Bonanza Gardens in Green Acres. “I will have to wait and see if they are working after they got soaked. When I called 990 for help, they told me they had no time to respond to me. All they told me was to get to higher ground. But I needed help to take the things upstairs.” Timla and another neighbour pointed to seven feet high muddy watermarks which lined some of their concrete posts. The bushes and their potted bougainvillea plants in their yards were all covered in mud. Regrello said he requested two excavators from the Ministry of Works and expected them to begin clearing the river today to avoid a repeat of the flooding.

Regrello also blamed, “poor engineering and improper planning”, on the flooding of homes on the Marabella train line.

“Marabella is very flat.

The drainage is poor so the water is not draining as it should.” Regrello pointed out eight inch drains with six inch mouths as one cause of flooding. “It leads to a bottleneck of water that overflows into peoples’ yards.”