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A resident stands in disbelief in waist-high floodwater near his home on Nabbie Street, Bamboo No 2, Valsayn South on Tuesday. – ROGER JACOB
“Flood, up to we roof,” that is how many residents in Bamboo No 2 described the condition of their homes. Many people said they lost everything. They had to wade through neck- and waist-high water on Sunday and many have not been able to return home since.
Many residents are seeking shelter in the mosque, their cars or at the homes of relatives outside the community.
Davica Sooklal from Nabbie Street, Bamboo No 2, said she lost everything. Water filled her house to waist height and she became trapped, she said.
Members of the Balroop family took to the roof of their home to escape floodwaters at Jaffar Street, Bamboo No 2, Valsayne South on Tuesday. – ROGER JACOB
She said her son told her she had to get out, so she waded out of her house, near the river bank on Sunday night.
“Water is by the roof right now. Everything I loss. I had to call somebody to bring clothes for me. My son is a schizophrenic, I had to travel this morning to go and get his tablet. Birth paper, everything gone.
“I can’t say how I feeling. I can’t even watch any videos on Facebook. It was horrible, horrible. First time in my life, I thought I was going and drown. Because in my bed room, before we leave, my son put eight Carib case under my bed to raise it.
“When my son tell me, ‘Mummy, you have to come out, no boat ain’t coming,’ is when I jump down, the bed was already wobbling. I didn’t believe the water was so high. Everything was just flipping, the full gas tank was floating. Everything was going. I don’t have a single thing, except my car what park up the road, and my son have clinic on Thursday.”
A boat supplied by Nanan Tours helps resupply residents with basic food items and fresh drinking water at Bamboo No 2, Valsayn South, on Tuesday. – ROGER JACOB
Zena Mohammed and her family also said they lost everything, while her husband held back tears.
“We loss everything in we house. Them minister and them, when the night come, they have a place to rest their head. They getting their food. They have their washroom. Nobody here eh know when the night come where they sleeping.
“What the minister have to do is bank that Caroni River, and dredge it. That is the only thing that would help we a little bit. Them ain’t doing nothing for we down here because we area is not PNM area, and I not shame to say it. I saying the truth.”
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Another resident, Brian Beepath said water at his home on Mohan Street reached as high as his air conditioner. He also lost his bunny rabbit in the flood, but he managed to save two dogs. Beepath said he raised his furniture on Monday, but when he returned home on Tuesday, the waters had consumed it.
Residents of Nabbie Street, Bamboo No 2, Valsayn South, are forced to use a boat for transport on Tuesday. – ROGER JACOB
Activist Inshan Ishmael said, “The river bank was breached in an area where the Ministry of Works sent a contractor and they patched the river bank with bamboo. Broken pieces of bamboo was used to patch the river bank.”
Ishmael said he contacted his lawyers and hopes to begin legal proceedings against the ministry.
He said residents sent a message to the Minister of Local Government Faris Al-Rawi and the Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan when they visited on Tuesday.
“We not going and take this. They run them out of Bamboo. They made a hasty retreat, but Faris couldn’t walk fast because his pants was too tight.”
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