A group of Preysal residents fear their community may be in of being cut off as part of the main access roadway has caved in, leaving an eight-feet deep hole near the Preysal Bridge.
The pavement where children walk every day on their way to school now also has no support under it and can sink in at any time. The railing along the nearby bridge has also given way and cracks have started developing in houses and walls near the eroded bridge.
Frustrated with the lack of response from Government, residents, led by the Preysal Community Action Alliance, staged a placard protest to highlight the problem earlier today.
Alliance president Miranda Mohammed said the erosion started a year ago but was exacerbated by recent rains and flooding.
Preysal residents at the site of the caved in road armed with their placards for the protest earlier today.
Rishi Ragoonath
"We have raised this with the MP and the regional corporation and nothing was done. We are calling on the Minister of Works to fix the Preysal Bridge now because it is a disaster waiting to happen."
She also said the San Francisco bridge off Chickland has also been damaged.
"The wall of the bridge damaged, the Preysal bridge is on the verge of collapse and the Chorro Bridge is also being eroded," Mohammed said.
Residents are worried that the 4,000 of them who live in the community may soon be cut off.
Sally Pragg, who lives next to the bridge, said her wall is leaning because of the erosion.
"Since December 2016 we noticed the bridge was being eroded but now it is worse. Someone can fall into that hole and die," she said.
Resident Shirvan Ramjit also said students from the Preysal High School, Preysal Government Primary school and two preschools in the area pass on the eroding bridge every day and it is now a hazard for them.
The T&T Guardian will bring you more as this story develops.