(Trinidad Express) It is two weeks before Christmas and the people living in flood-ravaged South Trinidad are facing a financial disaster.
Areas in Penal, Debe and Barrackpore were under water yesterday, with roads impassable and houses flooded.
Families were stranded in their homes for almost two days, helpless as appliances and furniture washed away.
Primary and secondary schools were closed.
The floodwater began rising on Wednesday afternoon, causing rivers to overflow and water to spread into the floodplains of the Godineau River in the South Oropouche Lagoon.
Yesterday morning, the Debe Main Road was impassable, as was Suchit Trace, Transfer Village, Digity Village, Clarke Road, Rochard Road, Syne Village, Woodland and San Francique.
The area around the Powergen facility in Penal was also flooded, along with Lachoos Road and Goodman Trace.
Chairman of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation Dr Allen Sammy estimated 1,030 households were affected by the heavy rainfall and flooding. And water levels have not yet subsided, he said.
In an interview with the Express yesterday, Sammy said efforts were made to alleviate the effects of flooding in the area.
