As the heavy rains continued yesterday, residents of a small village in Central Trinidad feared that they would soon be cut off from the rest of the country.
The main road at Carolina Village in Couva was on the verge of collapse, residents said. They complained that another heavy downpour may make the roadway impassable.
Villager Krishna Harrikissoon said: ’The roadway is already flooded and if it continues to rain the [land] would collapse. We are praying for a miracle right now because if this continues we would be marooned. I am begging the authorities to help us.’
The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) stated yesterday that rainfall is expected to continue. ’The rains we are experiencing are normal for this time of the year, but persons are being urged to take all precautionary measures,’ the release stated.
And residents of Ramsaran Trace, off Warren Road, Cunupia, were counting their losses after flood waters ravaged their crops. The persistent rainfall caused drains to overflow into fields of cabbage, tomatoes and sweet peppers. ’Every time it rains, we get this happening here because the drains are not being cleaned. This is an agriculture community, so people here depend on these crops to survive,’ resident Ramanan Hardeo said.
Hardeo said several reports were made to the Tunapuna Regional Corporation, but no one responded.
Many families affected by last weekend’s flooding remained at home yesterday and continued clean-up operations. The Office of Disaster Preparedness reported that 36 houses were affected by the heavy rains.
At Navet Village, Rio Claro, residents were repairing their fallen homes. They said losses tallied hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Although the flood waters in Barrackpore had subsided, residents were mopping up the debris left behind. They too called on the authorities to assist.
And at Union Village, Claxton Bay, the raging flood waters flowed through the streets. Some residents were unable to go to work, while others waded through the murky waters. Residents said appliances and furniture were destroyed by the high waters.
