While many citizens rang in 2018 with prayers, fireworks and family limes, the Bansgopauls spent their night in hammocks fighting off a scourge of mosquitoes brought on by four days of floods.
Every New Year’s Day, the Woodland family would hunt, cook and invite friends and relatives over to their home for a day of celebration and togetherness.
But there was little they could do as they, like many of their neighbours, had murky, stagnant water in their homes. The aftermath of four days of torrential rainfall which swamped the entire country.
Many motorists heading to San Francique and Siparia were forced to turn around as Pluck Road remained blocked by water due to overflowing New Cut Channel.
Children threw nets in the road, catching cascadura and other small fish while cattle grazed on what little high ground they could reach.
For the Bansgopaul household of 13, they sat solemnly on their front porch, disheartened over the missed holiday.
Larry Bansgopaul told the T&T Guardian that from the time the water started gushing into their home on Friday, they sent the four children, ages one to eight, to stay with relatives as they already knew their fate.
His mother Mohanie said it was the third time in 2017 that they were flooded; the other two times being the Tropical Storm Bret in June and the Divali floods of October. She said the authorities did nothing to ease their problems.
“We spent our New Year’s Day sleeping in hammocks and on chairs. As you can see we’ve raised everything off the ground, but the water has damaged clothes and the wardrobe so far. In the past, we’ve lost a lot of furniture and appliances.”
While the four rivers running through the community remained high, villagers said it was the unstable bank along the New Cut Channel that was responsible for the floods.
Cattle farmer Kassim Mohammed said the banks cannot withstand the volume of water rushing down and on three occasions, the soil washed away, making way for the water to gush into their homes. Several residents along with contractors tried using a flat-bed trailer and mud to block the broken parts of the banks, but they said the water was too powerful.
Mohammed said he had to wade through the floods to retrieve his cows, but now they have very little to eat as the grass remained underwater for days. Only a few residents were able to begin cleaning as the water began draining into the rivulets. Dilip Mungal said while he was happy to wash his premises, the rivers are in dire need of cleaning as more rain will only bring another round of flood.