SHARLENE RAMPERSAD
There was widespread flooding and devastation in several areas yesterday, as the St Joseph and Caroni Rivers overtopped their banks, affecting Bamboo #2, Valsayn South and La Paille Village, Caroni.
In Valsayn South, residents were trying to cope with the third straight day of floodwaters in their homes.
Mother of two, Sabrina Bedassie, said she left her Rovess Drive home with her two young children after seeing floodwaters rising on Friday.
“Right now, by me have window height water, it could get to seven feet of water if the high tide comes up,” Bedassie said.
Her children are six months old and two years old.
While she was speaking to Guardian Media, her husband was wading into the murky waters to check on the house.
Bedassie said a check on Sunday confirmed her worst fears.
“It is very difficult when you know you lost everything and you have to start back from scratch, household items gone, wares probably floating inside, TV gone, fridge gone, freezer gone, it’s really really hard when you have to start back from scratch,” Bedassie said.
She said she was due to start a new job on Tuesday but with the floods, she would not be able to show up.
Even her infant son’s crib was floating in the house.
“It really hard when you get this kind of water, nobody help, this is about the sixth time we get water and nobody help, no groceries, no food items, no household items, not even disinfect,” Bedassie said.
A short distance away, Lekha Pitty was sitting on a plastic chair on the roadway, under an umbrella as more rain came down. She said it was more comfortable for her, as the floods have not subsided.
The home she shares with her grandmother has been under water since Saturday.
She said her grandmother is currently hospitalised and has not been told of the devastation she is coming home to face.
“We don’t want to say anything because we don’t know how she will take it,” Pitty said.
Another resident, Nicole Sookhai, said the situation is becoming hopeless.
“We haven’t slept in 24 hours, the water is about three feet high inside the house,” she said.
Sookhai said her family’s refrigerator and stove had stopped working. Their beds were soaked and although the situation was dire, she said her family was sticking together.
“This is actually worse than 2018, the water is higher,” Sookhai said.
“We keep waiting for the water to subside so we can pump out the water but the water just keeps rising, so there is no hope, it’s never-ending for us,” she added.
A short distance away in Bamboo #2, one man who gave his name only as Frank said his home was covered by floodwaters.
“Since yesterday, the riverbank burst on Mohan Street, we tried to fix it but we could not do anything so we started to move out everybody, all the old people on Temple Street,” Frank said.
He has been patrolling the streets in his makeshift boat, a remnant of his rescue efforts after the 2018 floods that devastated his community.
“I build this boat to help out people, that is my job right now, is for everybody,” Frank said.
While Guardian Media was in the community, Frank and other men in boats were going into the community, bringing some residents out and taking supplies in for those who opted to remain in their homes.
Issac Mohammed, 65, who lives on Temple Street, said he left his home three times on Sunday because of the rising floodwater.
“My wife tried to get in a boat that the guys brought up into our garage and fell off, it was really terrible, right now water in my house covering my counter tops,” Mohammed said.
He said she was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex and treated for minor injuries.
Mohammed said his furniture and appliances were destroyed in the 2018 floods.
“I did not get any compensation or help then, I don’t know if I will get any now,” he said.
In La Paille Village, Caroni, Donna said when the floodwater started entering her home on Sunday afternoon, she was caught by surprise.
“It’s 18 years I living here and I have never seen a drop of water enter my house…when it started to come up, it happened so suddenly that we didn’t get time to do anything except grab the children and get to higher ground,” she said.
Donna said the residents had not seen or heard from anyone in authority and were helping each other out.
She said the MP for the area, Dinesh Rambally, was on site around 1 am yesterday, assisting families out of their homes and into the nearby Vishnu Boys’ Hindu College, which is a designated shelter.
Although the water in her home had subsided, many of her neighbours were not as lucky.
Marlon Gaskin and several other young men took our news team on a tour of the area in a boat. They had been using the small vessel, which does not have an engine, to take supplies to those trapped in their homes by the flood.
Gaskin’s own home was mostly spared, as it is built on stilts.
In College Road, St Augustine, Samantha Bridgelal said her home had been flooded since Friday.
“My home is covered with water, I haven’t been able to take a shower because my tank also floated away, this morning people from the area rescued us with a boat and brought us out to lower waters,” Bridgelal said.
Appealing for assistance, she said her appliances were soaked and floating inside her home.