Woodland residents say they feel betrayed by the Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT) as they are still waiting for an explanation as to why the floodgates in the area were not activated following severe flooding on July 21.
The residents believe it was the delayed action by the MoWT that cost them days of suffering and thousands of dollars in losses.
Today marks two months since Guardian Media submitted questions to the Ministry’s Communications Division regarding what transpired in late July.
When Guardian Media visited the southwestern community at that time it was still reeling from heavy rainfall which occurred two days prior. The residents pointed out that the water in their homes was not running off as it used to and they believe that the floodgates referred to locally as the “14 Gate” were not activated.
Guardian Media was taken to the floodgates along the Godineau River where only one of the fourteen floodgates was open. An official on the site, on seeing the media and angry residents started to open more. In a matter of hours, the stagnant water in the residents’ homes ran off.
Questions were sent to the MoWT on July 22 asking for an explanation as to why there was a delay in that procedure. Despite being told on a few occasions that the matter was being investigated, to date, the incident remains a mystery.
On September 20, Guardian Media messaged Minister Rohan Sinanan reminding him that questions were sent weeks ago and he promised to look into it.
Meanwhile, the MoWT’s Communications Division said we will be informed when information comes to hand.
But this is not sitting well with the people of Woodland.
“We believe that if a proper investigation is done a lot of issues will be brought to light, people will be held accountable and there would be a lot of embarrassment for the authorities,” said Adesh Singh, the President of the Woodland Flood Group.
Singh said since Guardian Media highlighted the situation, nothing has been done to improve the system.
“In fact, on August 29, there was a recurrence of what happened in July.”
Singh said residents are now on edge every time there is heavy rainfall as they believe the system that was built to mitigate the effects of flooding will fail them again.
“It’s not always possible for us to go to the flood gates to investigate what is happening and unfortunately it’s only when we do go there by boat that the gates are manned personally and that’s only for a few days before they abandon it again.”
The Woodland Flood Committee said it has also tried several times to get a meeting with Member of Parliament for Oropouche West, Davendranath Tancoo to discuss their solutions to the issue but so far, their requests have been ignored.