Flood victims from San Francique, Cap-de-Ville, Woodland and Barrackpore began cleaning up their flood ravaged homes even as they braced for more bad weather over the weekend. In the Oropouche West areas, MP Stacy Roopnarine was on hand with Cepep crews to bring relief to distressed residents. Close to a dozen families from Birbal Trace, Centeno Trace, Sukal Trace and Woodland mopped out water from their houses.
Vidiawatie Balkaran, who celebrated her 70th birthday was among those affected. She hugged Roopnarine and showed her damaged appliances. “We had to move out the carpet. All the chairs were soaked,” Balkaran said. Cepep worker Susan Harripersad assisted in wiping down some of the waterlogged furniture. At Pluck Road, caterer Bindra Bullock said she lost a fridge and pump when over two feet of water entered her home.
She said a cylinder at Centeno Street had collapsed. “Since the last flood in August, I have not been able to open my barbecue shop and now this happened,” Bullock said. Roopnarine said most of the flooding was caused by drainage problems. She said numerous projects were ongoing in her constituency.
“There are two major projects at Alta Garcia Trace and Birbal Trace. Both projects are not yet complete but when it is completed it will alleviate the problems,” Roopnarine said. “The problem has more to do with roadside drainage rather than rivers,” she said. Roopnarine said two pumps were operating at the Woodland Flood gates and the Tulsa Trace picnic site to channel the water flow.
Several families whose roofs were blown off at Cap-de-ville and Salazar Trace, Point Fortin, were assisted by disaster management teams of the Siparia Regional Corporation.
15 trapped in ‘Grande’
Meanwhile, heavy rains in Sangre Grande left 15 families trapped inside their homes yesterday. The area was visited by Sangre Grande Regional Corporation chairman Terry Rondon who tried to bring relief efforts to those affected by raging flood waters. Rondon, who described the deluge as terrible, said the flood victims had not yet received assistance. Many of the homes, Rondon said, were filled with debris and slush, which residents were cleaning up.
Rondon said yesterday’s downpour brought with it strong winds which felled many trees. Chief meteorologist Shakeer Baig has advised of more torrential rains. A bulletin posted by Baig said the rainfall was because of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ).