Tancoo: Flooding imminent as Government fails to act

After a couple days of scattered “April showers” earlier this week, MP for Oropouche West, Dave Tancoo is again warning that severe flooding in significant parts of his Constituency is imminent as a result of the failure of the Ministry of Works and Transport to get their act together before the approaching rainy season – less than 90 days away.

MP Tancoo says that the level of maintenance works that have been performed on the major watercourses in his constituency and surrounding flood-prone areas is both sub-standard and inadequate. This is especially so, given the confirmed La Niña phenomenon and the predictions of an active Hurricane Season that will result in a more active than usual rainy season in 2024.

According to Tancoo, a visual inspection of the banks of major watercourses such as the New Cut Channel and the Black Water Channel in South Oropouche show large fissures, indicating that the requisite maintenance works as well as reinforcement works to the river banks have not been satisfactorily completed.

Tancoo says, “This is just one of the weak links that will lead to imminent flooding, not if, but when the rains arrive. While the Minister of Works and his junior Minister only appear in South Trinidad for photo ops, they are blissfully unaware of these matters that cause disastrous flooding which residents from these areas endure every year.”

The Oropouche West MP also noted that the old flood gate in the river at Tulsa Trace is yet to be removed. “This remnant is a hazardous obstacle that lies across the width of the river, trapping rubble, trees and branches, creating an obstruction to the free flow of the river. This directly contributes to the four (4) to six (6) feet of flood waters faced by residents over the past few years. I have written to the relevant authorities to have the old flood gate removed, but it appears that this PNM Government is waiting for yet another flooding disaster to occur before taking this matter seriously.”

MP Tancoo is calling on the Minister(s) of Works and Transport to attend to the above as matters requiring an urgent and immediate response. “Citizens of South Trinidad deserve no less attention as received by residents of other parts of the country who are severely affected by floods every year. The Government’s failure to do what is required would only further entrench feelings of discrimination and abandonment by this Government that these residents already feel.”