Flooding leaves north under water

St James Flood Nov 19th, 2011, 12:39pm; Bournes River overflowing at Patna Street Bridge and subsequently flooding Bournes Road and Western Main Road.

This video shows Bournes Street and the flooding created on Western Main Road. It ends showing the fast flow in Bournes River channel downstream of WMR.

Note at the crossing with Western Main Road there are two locations where the road surface has been uplifted and damaged due to the pressure in the underground drain (Bournes River).

Flood in La Seiva, Maraval and Environs

RESIDENTS: WORST FLOODING IN YEARS
Residents of north-west Trinidad and first responders to disasters were engaged in mopping up exercises and the removal of debris up to last night, after heavy showers caused the Maraval and Dibe Rivers to burst their banks, causing massive floods, landslides and land slips.

Flooding leaves north under water
HEAVY rainfall yesterday caused widespread flooding and major infrastructural damage throughout north Trinidad. Areas in Diego Martin, Cocorite, Woodbrook, Dibe and Maraval were some of the worst hit.

Rain leaves trail of destruction

Torrent takes family’s belongings

‘It was horrific’
Three members of a Petit Valley family, including a three-year old boy, remained trapped inside their house for more than two hours yesterday, after slush and debris washed down by heavy rains were deposited atop their home around midday, cutting off all access routes.

…Warner observes Maraval clean-up
WORKS and Infrastructure Minister Jack Warner toured parts of Maraval yesterday and observed the clean-up operations that followed yesterday afternoon’s heavy rainfall which caused landslides and floods…

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Other parts of northern Trinidad were affected by floods. However, the photographer who took the images for TrinidadAndTobagoNews.com is based in Maraval and could not get around to other parts of the country to photograph damages elsewhere. If you have images of flood damage in other parts of the country that you wish to share with us, please e-mail them to e.publish@yahoo.com

9 thoughts on “Flooding leaves north under water”

  1. Keep raping the hills off the forestation and then wonder why this is happening. POS never had this problem when I was growing up.

  2. Surveying Flood and Landslide Damages in La Seiva, Maraval
    Surveying Flood and Landslide Damages in La Seiva, Maraval

    November 20, 2011 – Clean-up Exercise and Surveying Flood and Landslide Damages in La Seiva, Maraval. The Prime Minister accompanied by other ministers tours part of the affected La Seiva Village.

    PM tours hard-hit flood areas
    Thirty years of unregulated hillside development culminated in the flooding disasters in north-west Trinidad over the weekend.

    …Some residents claim it’s the worst they’ve ever seen
    Fresh rains bring fresh worries and another sleepless night for a family of seven in La Sieva in Maraval yesterday. The family’s stove and washing machine slipped over 15 feet and smashed onto the road…

    St James Sec hit hard by heavy rains

    Rain leaves trail of destruction

    PM: Govt will do all to help flood victims
    Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says the Government will do its best to assist flood victims but not all will be compensated for their losses.

    Warner: Stop the blame game; critical work to do
    Works Minister Jack Warner said the scale of destruction in the wake of flooding in northwest Trinidad will severely tax the already overburdened emergency relief fund.

    More Teeth for Town and Country
    Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday said her government was “hurt and saddened” by the damage and losses suffered by citizens affected by Saturday’s thundershowers and “thanked God” no lives were lost.

    Town and Country must stand firm—Jack
    Works and Infrastructure Minister Jack Warner says “a tragedy of immense proportion” could happen if the Town and Planning Division does not become actively involved in the construction of people’s houses.

    Landslide blocks Castara road
    The Tobago Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) was busy yesterday morning, as an emergency distress call was received from the Radio Emergency Association Communication Team, shortly before 9 a.m., saying that the road to Castara, was blocked by several boulders and other falling rocks, making vehicular traffic impassable.

    Petit Valley family gets HDC home
    Louise Alexander and her family, whose home at Upper Simeon Road, Petit Valley, was damaged by landslides, have been given the keys to a new home at the Housing Development Corporation’s Oropune Development in Piarco.

    Not yet ready for nature
    The heavy downpour that fell on the North-West peninsula was unusually robust, despite assurances from the meteorological office that the rainfall was not out of the ordinary for this time of the year.

  3. I’d say run for the hills but as Mamoo already stated; we’ve chopped them down and stripped them of the forestation that held the soil together; preventing the rain/run-off from coming at us all at once.

    But truthfully, man has never been able to stop the creative or destructive force of Nature; after all Man is a creature of Nature and unless and until he re-learn’s his place generations upon generations will continue to lose this battle.

    Seems like Nature is in a creative mood and the sooner the powers that be go back to the island’s history and rediscover the paths and floodpans of the island’s rivers (a la our Island’s Mother, Venezuela) we’ll just have to learn to adjust to heart ache.

  4. Did I read dis right, ‘the environmental issues are to blame , comparative analysis with resource laden T&T, versus catch tail , sex tourist haven , Bangkok/Thailand , flooding,as if dis is now news , 40 years of Town & Country ,none teeth regulations , climate change?’
    Pray someone tell me what is taking place in my country, when this is the type of mantra ,we are being fed by our leaders ,and portrayed by gullible media agents? No , no, please, someone from ‘one oh dem corporate media entities ,’ did not use the words development over the past 30 years , when referring to our Brazilianlike fevela post slavery hills,a la poor folks enclaves , did they?
    http://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/front-page/giuliani-hired-to-clean-up-rio/
    Ah tell you , dis country is getting harder than ever to still love. Maybe someone either don’t give a hoot, or two years ago saw smoke , and thought it was a Trini Carib rain dance.
    Tell dem mamboo, and cuz T-Man -our 2 resident spokesmen – to come better than dat! The people’s needs must of necessity ,be addressed , irrespective on how dey…, well ,.. fill in de blanks.
    Leaders cannot spend the next three years only locking up low end illiterate , high school drop out alleged criminals, can they?
    We call it enhancing infrastructure,and resettlement, where appropriate .
    Hey Uncle Jack , we know how Patios was looked at with derision during the last Commonwealth Heads, Sea Lots , jig and dance , but remember , T&T,ain’t having no Football World cup ,or Olympics, anytime soon, so dat South Afrikan , or Brazil face cleaning stunt, won’t work here either.
    http://networkedblogs.com/q62Gw
    Simply amazing how countries are alike in their distracting tactics, or how foreign Yankeee/ Brits , or Canadian , fake experts , enjoy pretending they are the answer to gullible-often clueless- domestic elites fears / concerns – but then , I could be wrong.
    Luv humanity!

  5. If this latest flooding does not awake the residences of the areas that were flooded, and the rest of our fellow citizens, then I do not know what will. Now is the time for locals to begin rolling up their sleeves placing sweat bands around their foreheads and begins cleaning up their neighborhoods. It is time for us to stop depending on government to spoon-feed all our needs. It is time to become an army of Health and Sanitation Officers for our neighborhoods. It is time to stop dumping all of our waste products in every river, ravine, vacant lot, and on our streets, which clogs and obstructs the paths where rain and run off water MUST flow. When paths are, clogged water will create its own new path to flow, by forcefully moving anything in its way. Humans are no-match for the power of water but what we can do is to keep our country CLEAN and allow flood waters to flow, freely, along the natural paths that were created for it to flow along and not create its new paths because we have become too complacent when throwing away our GARBAGE, OLD REFRIGERATORS, OLD CARS, CONSTRUCTION WASTE, FURNITURE, TREE LIMBS and THINGS NO LONGER WANTED. To those who dispose of unwanted items correctly I feel your PAIN, if your properties were damaged and you suffered loss. But to those of you who have contributed to the blocked and clogged rivers, ravines, gutters, vacant lands, and have scalped the mountains of their trees, I hope you suffered MUCH LOSS because your filthy lifestyles are causing tremendous loss to those of us who LOVE our COUNTRY and are trying our best to keep it clean. Don’t blame our government for failure to provide EVERYTHING WE WANT. Blame our UNSANITARY AND FILTHY LIFESTYLES FOR EVERY FLOOD WHICH CAUSES DAMAGE THAT COULD BE AVOIDED IF WE ONLY KEEP OUR COUNTRY CLEAN.

  6. My mother told me that back in her early years is was illegal to even spit on any sidewalk in Trinidad & Tobago. Nowadays it is not unusual to see people defecating anywhere they chose. What caused our derailment baffles me? But I am certain if we do not get back on track soon it will be all downhill from our current position because we are now called a DEVELOPED country but our behavior and living conditions is worst than those living in THIRD WORLD countries. Don’t believe me? Just pay a visit to Port-of-Spain General Hospital and you will find out that we are very much a third world country.

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