RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Some Wood­land res­i­dents pre­pared to evac­u­ate their com­mu­ni­ty as flood­wa­ters rose more than five feet high yes­ter­day, while oth­er res­i­dents placed fur­ni­ture on top of their roofs to pre­vent it from be­ing washed away.

But while the floods rose down­stream, high­er up at Pe­nal and Debe, res­i­dents begged for help to pump out sev­er­al feet of flood­wa­ters from around their prop­er­ties and in­side their homes.

At Mol­ly Street, Debe, Fa­ree­da Moral­ly looked at her flood­ed home in dis­tress.

She said every­thing in the house was soaked and she was dread­ing to see what the con­di­tion was in­side.

“You could see how every­thing in the wa­ter. Whole day we tried to con­tain this wa­ter but in the night when the high tide came, that was it, the wa­ter start­ed to gush in­side,” she re­called.

She added: “It is a clean­ing-up sit­u­a­tion now. It is a hard time for us and we re­al­ly need help. If I can get some­one to pump out the wa­ter from in­side the house it will be a great help.”

Moral­ly said the wa­ters start­ed to rise quick­ly at 7 pm.

“I got to lift the fridge and stove but that was it,” she said.

Her neigh­bours, a Venezue­lan fam­i­ly, stacked their so­fa set on the roof while they showed three feet of wa­ter in­side. The fam­i­ly could not speak Eng­lish but their neigh­bour said if the rain per­sist­ed, it would not have been safe to stay there.

Mean­while, dozens of peo­ple went to the Pe­nal/Debe Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion to col­lect and dis­trib­ute sand­bags as they pre­pared for an­tic­i­pat­ed thun­der­storms tonight.

But at Debe Trace and Ra­hamut Trace, sand banks washed away as the riv­er raged on.

South Oropouche River­ine Flood Ac­tion Group pres­i­dent Ed­ward Mood­ie said the river­bank was breached for hun­dreds of feet.

At La For­tune, Wood­land, Mar­vin Bridge­mo­han said res­i­dents were evac­u­at­ing their homes while oth­ers were tak­ing pre­cau­tions as they an­tic­i­pat­ed fur­ther rain­fall.

“We will have to evac­u­ate this area be­cause some­times this wa­ter stays here for a week. We have to re­move the live­stock to Mur­ray Trace and try to raise every­thing off the ground but if the wa­ter con­tin­ues to rise, we can­not stay here,” Bridge­mo­han said.

He said his chick­ens and oth­er live­stock must al­so be re­moved from the flood­ed zones as they could drown.

“I have to hold them, put them in bags and then take them to Mur­ray Trace but I don’t know if I will be able to pass on the road be­cause the wa­ter is al­ready high,” he said.

He added: “The amount of wa­ter we get­ting is not easy at all. I blocked up the front and back door with bricks but now I have to raise it high­er. I am go­ing to try us­ing these bags of ce­ment to block it,” he added.

Can­dace Ra­manan-Ja­bood said she too was fed-up with the floods. She said every time it rains, they lose fur­ni­ture and oth­er valu­ables. She al­so said she want­ed to leave the house be­cause she could not bear to see every­thing be­ing washed away.

Mean­while, Pe­nal/Debe Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion chair­man Dr Allen Sam­my said they were on stand­by to as­sist res­i­dents who are trapped by the ris­ing floods.

He said: “Now is low tide so in some parts of Pe­nal the wa­ter went down a lit­tle but lat­er in the day we do not know what will hap­pen.”

He urged peo­ple in the flood zones not to take chances with their lives, not­ing that any­one in need of as­sis­tance can con­tact the cor­po­ra­tion.