Fear and desperation was etched on the faces of many residents of Mafeking Village, Mayaro, yesterday even as volunteers brought them some relief after floods trapped them in their homes.
By 4 pm yesterday, showers were returning and while water levels receded slowly in some areas, they began rising again in other parts of the district.
The Otoire River remained swollen, leaving more than 250 residents of Cedar Grove marooned.
In Logwood, volunteers struggled as they waded through the floods to load meals, water and household items from a Rio Claro-Mayaro Regional Corporation (RCMRC) truck onto a pirogue to take to the villagers. In some cases, it was the first meal some villagers had for the day.
A tour of the area by National Security Minister Stuart Young, Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein and Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat, accompanied by Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) head Capt Neville Wint brought little comfort to the residents.
Young, who did an aerial survey aboard a National Operations Centre helicopter, commended the residents and volunteers for their work. He said the Manzanilla Road was impassable and warned that no one should attempt to navigate the flood waters.
Among those who went to the aid of residents was Faheem Hosein and his friends from Princes Town.
He said: “We organised food, cleaning supplies, diapers, sanitary napkins, water and snacks for the people.
“Seeing this disaster, it is just a group of friends that came together with various masjids. It is really devastating to see that people have to start over. To lose everything now during this hard time is not easy.
“We are just trying to make it easier and seeing the number of children, that is why we had them in mind, to give little snacks and clothing.”
A truck from Laing Transport Division helped motorists to get their vehicles through the flood waters. Some people hitched a ride on a ’dump truck to get to and from their homes.
RCMRC chairman Glen Ram said there had been no assistance from the state with mattresses or relief hampers for the residents.
He made an urgent appeal for help yesterday and said that contrary to some reports, Mayaro had been hit hard and was in dire need of help.
“What I am seeing is in other areas the state is paying attention to those areas but the area of Mayaro/Rio Claro, what is happening at this time, we are not receiving anything here. Hundreds of people are marooned in their homes at this time,” he said
Ram said the Disaster Management Unit did an assessment on Saturday and sent it to the ODPM but there had been no help. He said some communities still could not be accessed as the water, which was as high as eight feet in some places, had not subsided.
“If the situation gets worse we will not have the resources to help citizens,” he said
He disagreed with the ODPM’s claim a few months ago that they were prepared for the rainy season.
“It is time that the state step in. I know the Prime Minister visited other areas. Imagine you have 250 people cut off from Trinidad and no way to get there. We don’t know if the people have eaten or what is happening there.
“If the water does not subside, children will not be able to attend school and people will not be able to go to work. The community will come to a total halt,” Ram said.
In Poole Valley Trace, Rio Claro, Karen Edwards said she left home on Friday morning for work and was faced with knee-high water across the road when she returned home that evening.
“It finally went down this morning, “ she said.
Edwards said she lost many household items, including appliances and her children’s school books. She does not know if her children would be able to attend school today.
Another resident, Elvis Ramsaroop, was left counting his losses. He said he put his refrigerator on staks of concrete blocks when the flood water began gushing into his house but the water rose even higher. Ramsaroop said a contractor brought water for him and his family.
“Nobody from the corporation came. They passed in their van with their windows up. Since Friday I wearing these pants. Thank God for my aunt and grandmother upstairs, I had somewhere to sleep” he said.