Dealing with the deluge

On social media, pictures of horrendous torrents in Cascade circulated. Numerous streets in the city were submerged. And businesses that were open were forced to close.

“Our capital city floods every rainy season, every year and pedestrians are made to suffer,” remarked businessman Gary Aboud.

“After decades of energy wealth, we fail at even the simplest organised management and preparedness of basic recurring events like flash flooding and heavy rains. Will we ever get it right?” We welcome the effort by the Ministry of Works and Transport to be responsive to these issues.

In a statement, the Ministry of Works said a technical team had been dispatched to conduct preliminary assessments in affected areas with an aim of providing immediate relief to residents.

The ministry further advised residents to visit its website to identify all infrastructural issues so that the relevant agencies can be sent to provide the necessary assistance in the shortest possible time frame.

Social media is a useful tool which can enable the State to get a clearer picture of the situation and to respond in a timely way.

But the issue is what happens when things become so bad that residents are unable to have the luxury of turning on their computers or connecting their smartphones to the Internet? The more long-term issue is the need for the State to stop placing emphasis on being reactive and to always be proactive.

For sure, it is very important that mechanisms are in place to respond to events.

These mechanisms must be tested and refined and subject to review so as to work as efficiently as possible.

However, we are sure the ministry will agree that there is a need to have water courses cleared regularly. What happened in Cascade is indicative of how saturated that area quickly became.

It is also clear that not enough long-term planning work is being done, despite there being several State entities dedicated to this. Not only must plans in the regional corporations be devised on the level of local government, but there needs to also be a national plan.

Further, these plans must be consistently enforced.

It seems by now we all know the causes of flash flooding: over-development of elevated areas; blockage of drainage by pollution; unstable top soil due to deforestation; and improper land use practices.

We have spent millions of dollars on plans to deal with drainage in Port of Spain and it seems strange that after so much expenditure, we are still not getting a handle on the situation.

Has the time come for a specific agency to deal with the question of drainage nationally? Has the current arrangement — with a ministry, a town and country planning agency, and various public utilities — worked efficiently? We may also consider whether there needs to be more proactive action on the part of citizens.

For example, in the US and Canada, there is a growing movement — called Depave — which is tearing up concrete and asphalt in local neighbourhoods and replacing it with gardens to soak up rainwater and help prevent flooding. And although Depave is largely unknown here, it taps into the fact that citizens, too, have a role to play in combating the deluge.