Mayaro resident Tricia Adams says there will be no jolly Christmas for her community this year as residents continue to count their losses from last month's flood.While the water has subsided, Adams said on Monday that Mafeking residents were still reeling from the damage left in the flood's wake."People are not really in the Christmas spirit.
"While we have been getting assistance with grocery items, we have lost furniture and appliances, which we ourselves have to replace. So a lot of people are not financially able to do that at this time," she said.Adams, who lives at inner Mafeking, said while government agencies have been interviewing flood-affected residents and recording their losses: "to date nothing has been replaced or given."
She said many of the villagers didn't know what to do to get their appliances replaced, "so people are going forward with the fact that they have lost their (belongings) and they have to replace them." Adams said people were still cleaning up their homes and the regional corporation had removed all the bulk waste, such as living-room furniture and destroyed appliances.
She said People's National Movement (PNM) Mayaro candidate Clarence Rambharat had also distributed grocery items and doors to people whose homes were waterlogged.
On Monday, Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation chairman Hazarie Ramdeen said people were returning to work and vendors were back at the market. But while water along the Manzanilla/Mayaro Road had receded for the most part, he said, the link between Mayaro and Sangre Grande remained impassable as sections of it were destroyed by the floods.
"We still have about six inches of water. There is still water (on the road) so you cannot take the chance to drive, as it could cause a problem. The area is cordoned off with barriers," Ramdeen said.He said the corporation continued to help those in affected areas with hampers and mattresses, and added:
"We are cleaning up the area with the trucks and bulk waste."Our cesspool trucks are also cleaning the toilets and septic tanks. We are also dyna-fogging and spraying the area."The corporation chairman said he was not aware of any dengue fever or chikungunya cases in the area.