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CLEAN-UP efforts at many of the municipal corporations are ongoing and going well, with disaster management units conducting assessments of damage. This follows days of heavy rain on June 10-12, causing flooding of various levels throughout Trinidad and Tobago.
Aranguez/Warner Village councillor Amit Sooknanan said his district was not affected, in stark contrast to the damage to the area in May where farmers’ fields were flooded.
“Normally we’re in a very flood-prone area, but we had a very successful cleanup, with the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government’s flood mitigation programme in conjunction with the San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation’s annual drainage programme.
“Over the years, we have been compiling and growing a list of watercourses to clean that will help alleviate flooding going forward. A lot of work was done in my area because it’s flood-prone. About three weeks ago, we had three-four feet of water in agricultural lands and over the weekend, with heavier rains, there was not even six inches of water in their properties. It stayed in the watercourses.”
He said there were a lot of blockages and encroachment by commercial buildings and private property into the road drainage reserves.
“We worked through a lot of them and around those we couldn’t go through. I’m going to continue correcting these issues one at a time. The flooding has to come to an end in my district.”
Penal/Debe regional corporation chairman Gowtam Maharaj said the cleanup effort was going well and the corporation was working with people who required support.
“The DMU is doing the damage assessment reports. There were places where people’s houses got waterlogged and we had a few cases where people’s roofs had blown off, so we’re working with those to access the appropriate grants from the Ministry of Social Development.”
Of the 450 sandbags distributed across Trinidad, the PDRC received the most sandbags. Maharaj said 200 sandbags were sent to the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries on June 16. He said flood mitigation was ongoing.
“We’re doing a combined initiative where we take the labour teams from each district and combine them to get an effective manual cleaning. We have excavators on the ground, NGOs and supporters through the MP’s office, our small excavator, one from the Local Government Ministry and the Ministry of Agriculture has theirs working, and the Ministry of Works as well. It’s a collaboration and a success model we wouldn’t stop using.”
Sangre Grande Regional Corporation chairman Kenwyn Phillip said cleanup was ongoing and the DMU was working with flood victims in the area.
“They’re distributing disinfectant and the corporation is doing its best in trying to assist in cleaning some of the cesspits that would have overflowed. There are areas that had a lot of flooding, like in Sangre Chiquito, Fishing Pond, parts of Foster Road and parts of Sangre Grande northwest and northeast.”
He said assessments are ongoing and should be completed by Wednesday. He said the DMU would forward all the requests to the Ministry of the People, Social Development and Family Services.
Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo chairman Ryan Rampersad said there had not been much flooding in the area, with approximately 20 houses being affected.
“Today we have our disaster management assessment team in Saroop Avenue in Las Lomas. That’s where we rescued the family with the dog last week. We had flooding in Las Lomas, Carlsen Field, and so we’re wrapping that up today.
“We have all our workers in the field looking for clogs and blockages where the watercourses cross roads and bridges. The floods would have brought down trees, branches and other debris that jammed against the bridges and created bigger obstacles. We are cleaning those out and clearing out the clogs.”
He said the bad weather would have brought down vegetation, trees and bamboo across the road.
“The soil is very saturated. We have our guys out in trucks cutting and cleaning, trying to do some mitigation works, trying to cut not just what is over the roadway but also a little way off the roadway.”
Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation chairman Josiah Austin said via WhatsApp on June 16 that the disaster management unit (DMU) along with the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) team were out over the weekend delivering cleaning supplies from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and the corporation.
“There are several reports of fallen trees in the region. The tree cutting unit are currently dealing with these issues.
All reports over the weekend have been compiled. Assessments continue today and we are getting assistance from surrounding corporations as we efficiently conduct this exercise. This is called a damage needs assessment. All information will be forwarded to the Ministry of the People, Social Development and Family Services.”
He said remedial works will continue between TPRC and the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure (Drainage Division).
Princes Town regional corporation chairman Gowrie Roopnarine said there was no major flooding in the area where people lost belongings.
“The water went back down the next day and we didn’t really have any major cleanup exercises to do in the Princes Town region. We had some floods in Barrackpore where a few houses were flooded out but there were no major losses. Those were dealt with two days after the flood. We were fortunate in the Princes Town region.”
San Fernando mayor Robert Parris said there were no reported occurrences of any flooding in the city of San Fernando.
“For two months, even before it was announced by the Honourable Minister, we had begun our annual flood mitigation and cleaning up of drains and stuff like that. We had enlisted CEPEP and maybe 75 per cent of our manual cleaning was done. Right now we are into our mechanical cleaning and we will continue with Tarouba, Vistabella and part of my electoral district, where we want to make sure the water channel is clear.
“The Marabella area is prone to flooding, but there were no reported incidents of flooding in the Marabella area. I’ve had discussions with San Fernando West MP Dr Michael Dowlath with regard to using equipment from the corporation to clean and maintain our waterways.”
Parris said there were no reports of flooding in the city in 2024, which he wanted to maintain in 2025. He said a report of flooding in Scott Street was a result of workers having to leave bags of rubbish behind because they were attacked by bees, and the bags washed into the drain when there was flooding.
“We’ve been managing our watercourses in the city of San Fernando. In the riverine updates, you would see the Cipero River has been maintaining a low level. We will continue to work with the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government and all agencies of the government to assist in having this good reaction to flood mitigation in the city of San Fernando.”
Siparia Mayor Doodnath Mayrhoo said the borough did not have as much flooding as other areas of the country.
“We don’t have much cleanup to do really at this point in time. We weren’t severely hit like Central.”
Port of Spain deputy mayor Abena Hartley said the city was not as badly affected by flooding as other parts of the country, so there was no need for more than regular service.
“Our trucks are out doing the regular mop-up in the various divisions, wherever reports would have been made, according to our disaster management units. We didn’t have houses flooded in Port of Spain.”
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