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Khadijah Ameen - Minster of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen is urging people who live in flood-prone area to continue monitoring water levels in nearby rivers.
Heavy rains over the weekend led to flooding in some communities throughout TT.
The meteorological office issued an adverse weather alert which was set to end at 9 pm on August 24.
Speaking with Newsday on August 24, Ameen said parts of St James, Diego Martin and Glencoe were affected by street flooding and silt deposits, but there were no reports of serious damage to anyone’s home.
“Cleanup exercises from the flooding continues with removal of silt from affected streets.
“We don’t have any information on people’s homes being affected. We did, though, have three fallen trees and TT Electricity Commission (TTEC) had to intervene because of the electricity wires.”
She said the TT Fire Service and the disaster management teams assigned to regional corporations were able to use electric saws to clear the debris in the other two instances.
Ameen urged anyone who was affected by the rains to contact their regional corporation as soon as possible.
“Disaster managers will do further assessment work, so if your home, furniture or appliance was damaged we can work with the Ministry of the People and Social Development to attend to those families.”
Ameen urged people who live in flood-prone areas to take the necessary precautions to safeguard themselves and their belongings.
“Do not go out and leave your home unattended. Place sandbags before water levels rise and come into your home.”
She added while the ministry has cleared many of the water courses, people should not become complacent.
“Some areas you may not see water levels rising as high, but still we ask you to put all precautions in place.”
“Please monitor water levels. If you see flood waters rising inform the regional corporation at earliest opportunity. Don’t wait for it to come inside your house.”
Ameen said the pledged to continue working with stakeholders to ensure the public gets the best response available in their time of need.
“Last Friday the ministry held a meeting with disaster preparedness stakeholders… to work on communication and revising what we do and how we respond so we can respond in a more timely manner.
“From those discussions we have already see fruit in terms of ability to respond quickly and therefore we will continue working with all stakeholders.”
Newsday also received reports of flooding at different areas along SS Erin Road in South Trinidad.
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