KEVON FELMINE
A thunderstorm in Port-of-Spain, lasting less than 30 minutes, caused the drainage to overflow in Belmont, Queen's Park Savannah, St Clair, and South Quay. Along Colville Street, Tragarete Road and Ariapita Avenue, the roads had disappeared and a river took its place. Pedestrians who took cover outside businesses were forced to wade through the flood and motorists had to find alternative routes.
And while the US National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration predicted 11-17 named storms for the 2017 hurricane season, Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan said it was impossible to engineer solutions to mitigate the kind of weather brought by Hurricane Irma.
Although Sinanan, who was touring the Fyzabad constituency yesterday, was not asked about the Port-of-Spain flooding, he said the ministry continued to clear watercourses to lessen the effects of flooding.
"The engineering that has to take place for these levels of storm is virtually impossible. Basically what we’re doing is precaution and then we want to be a lot more proactive."
Asked if the country was in a better position to withstand a storm, Sinanan said his ministry will try to be as prepared as possible. He said T&T needs to learn from the experiences of its storm-ravaged neighbours as given the current weather patterns, "it is only a matter of time before something serious hit us". (See Pages A 8, editorial on A 16)