SASCHA WIL­SON

Heavy show­ers have left sev­er­al ar­eas in South Trinidad un­der flood­wa­ters, leav­ing scores of res­i­dents strand­ed.

One of the hard­est hit ar­eas is Cross Cross­ing, San Fer­nan­do, where the Cipero Riv­er over­flowed, gush­ing in­to peo­ple's prop­er­ties and roads at Co­conut Dri­ve, Palmiste Blend, Tapana Lane and sur­round­ing ar­eas.

Andy Ralph told Guardian Me­dia he has no idea how to get back home to his fam­i­ly.

"I have to wait un­til the wa­ter goes down, " said Ralph, who left ear­li­er this morn­ing as the wa­ter was ris­ing.

A dog looks on from a rapidly diminishing safe place at rising flood waters in Coconut Drive in San Fernando, on Friday 15 July 2022. (Image by RISHI RAGOONATH)

An­oth­er res­i­dent, Kyle Gup­ta, a for­eign au­to parts deal­er, said he lost thou­sands of dol­lars in parts.

He said con­struc­tion ma­te­ri­als—in­clud­ing sand, grav­el and ce­ment—which he bought to ren­o­vate his house al­so were washed away.

"Right now, it’s not easy. I is a fam­i­ly man. I have a three-year-old son and it is over­bear­ing. I am a busi­ness­man al­so. When the flood come it go­ing with my parts and I re­al­ly can't take it.  Is years it do­ing me this and I can't take it," he told Guardian Me­dia.

Gup­ta said the prob­lem is that the riv­er is not be­ing cleaned reg­u­lar­ly. 

Rising flood waters in Coconut Drive in San Fernando, on Friday 15 July 2022. (Image by RISHI RAGOONATH)

An­oth­er res­i­dent, Daniel Ali, said floods be­gan around 6 am. He said an un­com­plet­ed drain is con­tribut­ing to the floods.

There al­so are re­ports of flood­ing in Clax­ton Bay, Pe­nal, Bar­rack­pore, Gas­par­il­lo and Williamsville, and Les Ef­fort West/La Ro­maine.

Rishi Bal­ram­s­ingh said there were re­ports of flood­ing across the nine elec­toral dis­tricts in the San Fer­nan­do City Cor­po­ra­tion.