While some parts of the country experienced crippling water shortages, over 150 families in Cedros were left marooned Tuesday when flood waters invaded the community of Bonasse.
A rising tide coupled with one hour of heavy rainfall caused the flooding which gathered inside resident's homes and yards.
Deodath Toolsie and his wife Eileen tried to put their furniture and appliances on higher ground when the floods started to rise.
A Cedros man sits outisde his flooded home.
Kristian De Silva
"We have about 18 inches of water inside the house right now. It was terrible the worst I have seen so far," Eileen exclaimed before passing the phone to her husband.
Toolsie said the floods were caused by an incomplete floodgate.
"Right now the whole house and the entire village is flooded. I lost my couch. The fridge is wet so we don’t know how long it will last us now. The drain that they construct down was a bad engineering. The entire village has floods from the hospital onwards. We had about three feet of water here. We are bailing out water from inside the house," Toolsie added.
He said the rain started to fall about 11 am and as the floods began to rise, students were kept inside the school compound.
Flood waters in Cedros.
Krsitian De Silva
By 2 pm, a team from the Siparia Regional Corporation went to Bonasse and began clearing the watercourses.
Councillor Shankar Teelucksingh said the floodgates and the bridge at Bonasse were supposed to have been completed earlier this year by the Ministry of Works. He said since 2015, there have been no de-silting of rivers and drains.
"The floodgates were redesigned to allow low water run-off but this is inappropriate because Cedros is below sea level so once there are a high tide and heavy rains, the community will flood," Teelucksingh said. He added that it may take a few days for water to subside in some areas.
Teelucksingh said more than 150 families from Bonasse Village were directly affected.
Flood waters in Cedros.
Kristian De Silva
"This is the second time we are having this problem. The last time villagers were not compensated. The schools were filled with water today and I am calling on the Minister of Works to respond now,"
Teelucksingh said. He also added that the ambulance and police vehicles could not pass through the floods, adding that traffic backed up along the Southern Main Road as the floods cut off access to the villages of Fullarton and Icacos.
Minister of Works Rohan Sinanan was in the Senate yesterday and could not respond to questions.
Last May, Sinanan said a contractor has already been paid to restart and complete work on the Cedros Bridge and the floodgates within six weeks, well before the height of the rainy season but at that time officials said "not one black cent" was paid by government.
The project which is 90 percent completed remains at a standstill. The contractor is owed $4.5 million.