Of all the vivid images of floods, landslips and damaged property and infrastructure in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Bret in June, the one that stood out were of pregnant mother Ramrajee Chance and her five children as they stood in their tiny home at Penal surrounded by murky flood waters.
Chance said she and her children spent several hours on a table of their home located on the edge of a lagoon at Sunrees Road watching their belongings, including food and clothes, being swept away by the floods. Eventually, the family was rescued, relocated to temporary shelter and received supplies including a mattress and other basic items.
The country did not feel the full impact of the tropical storm but the rains and winds were bad enough to damage several homes and leave many marooned. There were floods in parts of south Trinidad, including Penal, Debe, Marayo, Moruga, Barrackpore and Princes Town. In Central Trinidad, flood waters rose in Caparo.
Bret was indirectly blamed for the death of 40-year-old construction worker Andy Manyair who fell to his death after slipping on a makeshift bridge as he tried to run through the heavy rains to get to his home.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, who was in Tobago when Bret hit, thanked those he said had worked “tirelessly to prepare us for the storm’s passage and those who continue to render assistance to those who still require help.” He commended the Office of Disaster Preparedness (ODPM) for its coordination of relief efforts.
However, Rowley would be singing a different tune in October when torrential rains caused widespread floods in south and central Trinidad.
Commuters along the Solomon Hochoy Highway near Chase Village were stuck in traffic for hours after both sides of the highway flooded.
The ODPM was criticised for its poor response and Rowley was criticised for not visiting the affected communities. Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who went into some of the hardest hit areas to get a first-hand look at the situation, later reported that she had seen widespread destruction.
“It is truly heart-breaking to see the level of devastation as a result of the floods and to hear the cries for help from so many distraught families A disaster of this scope requires urgent action and we have heard little from the government on what is being done,” she said.
It did not help that ODPM Deputy CEO Colonel Dave Williams, at a news conference to discuss the situation, described the widespread flooding as “no big thing.” Although he admitted that communication issues had prevented the agency from verifying reports, and systems had failed, Williams insisted that the ODPM had not failed.
This prompted an angry reaction from the Prime Minister who said of the agency a few days later: “We do not have the correct personnel in there and that we are not prepared to respond.”
Three days later, Williams resigned. Captain Neville Wint, ODPM Relief Officer, is acting as head of the organisation.