SEVERE rainfall along the East-West Corridor yesterday caused several homes and businesses in St Augustine, Curepe, Tunapuna, Macoya and Trincity to be flooded out.
Both the Eastern Main Road and the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway were under water, rising several feet in some areas.
At the Tunapuna Magistrates’ Court, the prisoner’s holding bay was flooded, with water reaching as high as two feet.
One store attendant at the Unipet Service Station in St Augustine told the Express: ’From about 12 (p.m.) , it had heavy winds and thing, branches from on the (Bus Route) blew onto the compound then the rain came, it finish about 3 (p.m.). If you see water, all in the back.’
The store manager, who asked not to be identified, said parked cars along the Eastern Main Road floated in the water.
The service station and its 360 Degrees Mini-Mart were closed to the public yesterday, as slush was piled up high where customers would have stood.
At Island Pets store, clean-up work began, with one shop attendant claiming the flood was the worst they had experienced since 2002.
A portion of the wall at the nearby Medical Laboratory Services was toppled by flood waters.
Other stores along the main road stretch in St Augustine, including the popular Mario Pizzeria and Hi-Lo supermarket, were left with muddy car parks. The restaurant was forced to close its doors due to the flood damage.
To make matters worse for St Augustine tenants and residents, there was a blackout and an interruption in the water supply up to late yesterday evening, as they attempted to clean up their homes.
’Right now we have no electricity and no water, and we don’t know what else we could do and we still have a lot of work to do,’ said Guyanne Wilson, of Henry Pierre Terrace.
Connell Street in Tunapuna became impassable, with one resident having to wait until a Tunapuna/ Piarco Regional Corporation backhoe cleared debris before he could reach his home, which was also flooded.
Traffic piled up along the Priority Bus Route in the vicinity of Curepe and beyond, as waters rose at Curepe Junction yesterday afternoon. There were also massive traffic pile-ups on the highway and main road following the flooding.
Officials of the regional corporation were busy at work, trying to clean several areas, but they believe their work will continue well into tomorrow.
Anyone in need of assistance from the corporation may contact 645-8772 and 663-6750.
