Water from the Caroni River started overflowing into Caroni Village yesterday morning. Rudranath Indarsingh, resident of the area and Couva South MP, said three breaches of the river occured at points where the drainage canals from the community started backing up when the river rose to the level of the banks. He said at this point, the water started flowing from the river into the village. Indarsing said if something was not done, the villagers will be marooned and would be in need of assistance.
Indarsingh said he called Kazim Hosein, the acting Minister of Works, seeking assistance. He said Hosein notified him that the director of Drainage will be out in the field. However, Indarsingh said up to midday no one had come to do an assesment. Indarsingh said the solution will be to find pumps to get the water out of the community that has close to 400 residents. At Las Lomas, the flood waters continued to rise yesterday.
He said Balmati Gosyne, councillor for the area (in the Couva-Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation), said she was assisting residents late Friday night and hit the road again around 5 am yesterday . Gosyne said for the past two years, the Ministry of Works has not being doing its job to keep the water courses clear. She said at the level of the corporation, the regional body can only assist residents in clean-up operations and spraying but does not have the resources to clean the waterways that drain into the Guyamare River. Gosyne made a plea to the Minister of Works to visit the area and assist residents by giving a commitment to have the water courses cleared.
Flooding in Tobago, too
The Scarborough General Hospital's surgical ward was also flooded as a result of the torrential rainfall on the island, a release from the Office of the Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) stated yesterday.
Patients were relocated to the medical ward.
Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles and Deputy Chairman of the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) Ingrid Melville visited the hospital yesterday.
The hospital's visiting hours were closed off to ensure the safety at the institution.
Flooding also took place in the roadway outside of the Scarborough port as a result of the persistent rainfall.