Heavy, persistent rainfall over the past few days has left Ministry of Works teams swamped with reports of land slippages across T&T. So said Director of Highways Roger Ganesh in an interview with the T&T Guardian yesterday. Apart from land slippage on the Claxton Bay overpass, he said, “We had a lot of other failures across the country: land slippages in north, east, west. We had a lot of rain over the past few days and we are still assessing the damage.”
In addition to the recent collapse of part of the shoulder of the new highway from Debe to Golconday, Ganesh said south Trinidad had seen more land slippage. “We also had a failure on the connector road opposite the Vehicle Management Corporation of T&T (VMCOTT),” he said. “Apart from the one on the new highway, we have had other reports as well.”
Recent rain and poor drainage in Claxton Bay are mostly to blame for the land slippages in the area, he said. “We are doing some emergency works there right now,” he said. But he added the number of heavy vehicles using that roadway was also a major contributor. “The excessive amount of heavy vehicles using that ramp compounds the problem. “It will be repaired, once the weather holds up a little. It should be done within in the next week or two.”
He said the area was known for its unstable soil type and more emergency work had been scheduled to treat with this. “If you notice the whole ramp, north to south, has been unstable for quite some time. We have works planned to repair the ramp itself: there is a little drain there that caused this failure. “We are going to start emergency works on that very, very soon.”
Situation getting worse
Heavy rain over the past few days has caused a portion of the Claxton Bay overpass, including the pavement, to collapse. The T&T Guardian visited yesterday and spoke to aresident. “Since weekend the land start sliding away,” said Nicholas Francois, who lives at Forres Park Trace. “They (Ministry of Works) only come Thursday and put up some caution tape. They eh do nothing else.”
Francois said the landslip has been steadily getting worse. “Every day, more and more caving down. Just now it might not have a road for people to drive on,” said Francois.