Frustrated by perennial floods, tears trickled down Seeraja Seunarine’s cheeks as she recounted water flowing into her home with the passing of the Invest 98L tropical wave.
When Guardian Media visited the Woodland community on Tuesday, the crew could not get to Seunarine, as water from several watercourses spilt onto the roadway. Sitting upstairs in her home, where she has been living since 1962, Seunarine said she had to wait for her daughter to see if anything downstairs sustained damage after floodwater entered. It was where she slept until Tuesday night.
Seunarine said most of the flooding could have been avoided if the Ministry of Works and Transport cleaned the watercourses properly and regularly.
The river flanking her home was barely recognisable, with grass and water lilies covering most of what eyes could see.
Among the flora gathered near the bridge was garbage.
“The Government is not doing anything, so how would I feel? Anytime a little rain falls, it floods. Before the month ends, it will have another flood. Look at the road right there. Do you see there is water on the road? It had about so much water,” Seunarine said, measuring an arm’s length.
She claimed that when workers came to clean the river at the beginning of the year, they sat for most of their shifts and left without much work.
Lower down the road, Visham Mungal was power washing silt from his front yard after three days underwater. A pump was still extracting muddy water from the back of the yard, as the drains along Pluck Road were full.
Mungal said water came from the southern side of the Woodland and into their homes over two days. He pointed to a river that authorities had not cleaned in months.
Floodwaters still covered parts of Pluck Road yesterday, causing drivers of small vehicles to seek alternative routes. It was difficult for those who had to travel; some waded through the water to get home.
Heritage Petroleum Company employees came to the rescue of two older women who got out of a taxi after the driver declined to drive through the flood. The workers made space in the company pick-up and took the women through the waters and to their homes.
Meanwhile, the force of flow in the South Oropouche River exacerbated structural problems with bridges along Boodoo Trace and Sanahie Trace.
Badaye Sooknanan said the river was undermining the roadway connecting to the bridge along Sanahie Trace, and it was just a matter of time before someone fell in the river. Sooknanan said someone could die and wants action taken before the bridge collapses into the river. In the meantime, he wants warning signs to alert motorists about the danger.
He said, “The county people came, and I thought they closing there, but how will we pass? The bridge in Boodoo Trace closed, so where will we pass?”