Overnight rains led to floods and early morning chaos in parts of Barataria, downtown Port of Spain, Diego Martin and Carenage. Just after 6.30 a.m yesterday a tree fell onto a car and then lay across the street near the Maritime Roundabout in Barataria. Though no one was injured, the fallen tree effectively cut off the north-bound lane after the roundabout and resulted in a traffic backlog past the Barataria flyover and along the Churchill Roosevelt Highway.

Police and work crews arrived soon after the incident, but by 10 a.m, traffic was still being redirected and the tree was still being cut up to facilitate easier removal.

Harrylal Persad, councillor at the San Juan/ Laventille Regional Corporation was on the scene yesterday and praised the speedy response by both police and the work crews.

"We had some storm-like weather conditions, heavy winds, heavy rains and that was heavy traffic time," he said.

"Thank God there were no injuries and within minutes the disaster team was here help," he said.

Persad said most of the flooding in the area was caused by run off from the rains on the mountains. He said people who were ignorant of the proper building codes were part of the problem.

"I don't think that a lot of people know only forty-three percent of a lot should be covered by a building. The rest must be left for seepage, but that doesn't exist in Trinidad and this is what happens. This is the result of that," he said.

He said several trees and branches were also damaged, but that was the extent of the damage.

"We had the water run off quickly, it could not really be termed a flood," he said.

Flash and street flooding also subsided quickly in Diego Martin and environs yesterday, which allowed work crews to continue the clean up efforts which began after the devastation on August 11.

Diego Martin Regional Corporation chairman Anthony Sammy said yesterdays flooding in the area did not cause as much damage as he first suspected. The Corporation's resources were tested two weeks ago when heavy rainfall triggered landslides and flooding in the area.

"In the earlier morning period the rivers were getting pretty high. We had some reports of landslides and landslips in the La Puerta area, in Haleland Park, we had some reports of fallen trees," he said.

But Sammy said the recent rains were not the same as the onslaught two weeks ago that led to two deaths and over $109 million in property damage.

"When I saw that the water coming down was clear that was a good indication. I realised that the hills were not going to give us more trouble," he said.