Still reeling from the damage caused by flood waters which swept through her home on Tuesday, Gloria Ramgobin broke down in tears yesterday as her family tried to salvage pieces of furniture and appliances that were under water for the second time this week.
Ramgobin, 56, her husband Kemchand, 61, and their daughter Meena, 28, had to flee their Messiah Trace, Williamsville, home around 1 am yesterday, when the Guaracara River burst its bank. The family survive on the National Insurance pension that Kemchand receives after retiring from the Princes Town Regional Corporation as a labourer.
Dozens of families in Messiah Trace, Reform Village and several streets in Princes Town were affected when heavy rains caused the river to overflow in the wee hours of yesterday morning.
In an interview with the Sunday Guardian around noon yesterday, Ramgobin said the water rose over four feet high and reached inside their home. She said the family was awaiting a visit from councillor Vashti Sookhoo and the Princes Town Regional Corporation for assistance.
“This is the second time this week we dealing with this, everything we had gone again,” she lamented. “We couldn’t stay in the house when water start to come in, cause it came so fast.”
Fearful for their lives, the family fled the small wooden house leaving all their belongings.
When the murky water subsided around 8 am yesterday, they returned to find their freezer, refrigerator and clothes scattered throughout their yard.
“The freezer was pushed out of the house and end up against the fence, I don’t know if it will work again because this is the second time this week that it get wet. There was no place to put anything safe.”
The mattress given to the family by the Disaster Management Unit of the Princes Town Regional Corporation on Tuesday was also soaked.
A short distance away, Sanjay Sanasie and his family were busy trying to salvage items from their home. Fourteen people live in the building and Sanasie said there were four different apartments that were hit by flood.
He said water was several feet high on his property, causing thousands of dollars in damage.
“We would have repurchased some things after the flood on Monday night and all of those things are now destroyed.”
Sanasie is calling on the Princes Town Regional Corporation to dredge the Guaracara River properly as he said this is the cause of the constant flooding.
“This problem has been ongoing for years but this year is definitely the worst, the corporation needs to come and clean the watercourse or this will continue to get worse.”