'Laugh or cry'

Looking at the pictures, and hearing the people who have suffered once again from flooding as a result of the heavier than normal rainfall as a result of Tropical Storm Bret one wonders why? Why is it that every single solitary year citizens of this country have to suffer through this man made disaster. We live in a place that just happens to be a tropical island, we have historical records of rainfall, we have more than eight [8] months of rain every year as a norm. What happens is not anything unusual, sometimes heavier than normal but nothing that we cannot deal with.
Unless of course one accepts  the 'Savanah Syndrome.' The theory behind this is that if one attempts to push more mas bands through the Savannah at carnival without making major changes to the route and scheduling you will suffer a five and six hour congestion period. Likewise, if one continues to allow land and building development, in many areas illegal and or unsupervised, and one does not make provision for the additional water runoff you will suffer flooding.
Now this is not about getting either the residents or the authorities to accept full blame for the mess that has been created but to assist in making sense and determining possible solutions. The one thing for sure is that we cannot continue to have our citizens living under these conditions. It is all well and good for persons having their photo-ops, with boots or without boots. The pics I really have a problem with are the ones with persons handing over care packages. How about some great pics instead, with proper infrastructure being commissioned.

I would like to use the area of Chaguanas as a sample district on how things are done in this land of ours.

• The Chaguanas Borough has ballooned into a massive bedroom community in excess of 110,000 persons.
• Commercial development is growing at a rapid rate.
• Much of the agricultural land, including low lying abandoned rice producing land, has been backfilled to facilitate shopping malls and warehousing.
• The HDC has built a massive project in the Endeavour area.
• Other large housing developments like Lange Park and others have been constructed as is the massive shopping malls at Endeavour

When Caroni Ltd. was still a going concern the company maintained the areas under sugar cultivation. The Chaguanas area is very flat covering many square miles.  The maintenance of the cultivated fields meant maintenance of the drainage channels. The area being flat meant that the runoff, after heavy rainfall, was slow as a result of the topography, but it did not matter all that much because the sugarcane could withstand being flooded for a couple of days without damaging the crop. I would think that the slow runoff also meant that there was little or no loss of top soil or erosion.
So we end up with this perfect storm. Massive development with no plans for what do we do with the additional runoff created by the construction of thousands of additional buildings.

We should note a couple things pertaining to this issue of flooding in Chaguanas.

• There has not been a comprehensive drainage study done and therefore no drainage development plan.
• There has not been construction of any new major or additional water courses in the district. The existing natural watercourses are expected to carry the additional load.
• The original drainage and irrigation systems developed by Caroni has been canibalised and in many parts destroyed by the increase in development.
• It is impossible to police the development taking place because of a complete lack of experienced manpower. The Chaguanas Borough Corp. at one time did not have a civil engineer on staff. When one was eventually hired that person had just graduated. I believe that this situation has not changed.

Every year we read 'Thank God', We Lucky', God is ah Trini,' 'Saved.' No, this is not the answer. Praying might comfort you but the flooding is real and peoples lives are being turned upside down for no reason. 

Proper planning, proper long term planning is the answer. Making sense of a situation is the answer to the plight of thousands of citizens across this country, not hoping that it does not rain. It's like the Diego Martin river currently being blocked by a sunken barge at the mouth, left by a contractor who was doing dredging work in the area. Or the very large ship that is about to sink just off the mouth of the Caroni river.
In my first year as an MP in Chaguanas East we experienced flooding. A crew was sent out to walk one of the rivers only to discover that a massive culvert had in fact collapsed and was blocking the water creating the flood. Needless to say equipment was sent in the day after and removed the blockage. The annual maintenance of all water courses and drainage systems is critical. We do this and forward plan for additional development and ensure that we cater for all eventualities then we do not have to witness the terrible scenes as has happened recently with some heavier than normal rains.

Both the PMOTT and the LOTO should be calling for a permanent fix to these man made problems.
Its not only about the flooding its the complete lack of planning for additional traffic loads. For instance, the Saddle Road in Maraval. This road would have been built in the year dot. The development in Maraval dates back to over 50 years, with Haleland Park being built in the early '50's. It's not to say it sprung up overnight. No, this is planned development, approved, like many other developments in the valley. Where is the forward planning for the traffic?

To quote a 63 yr old resident of flooded Caparo 'I don't know if to laugh or cry.'

This is 2017!