As the rest of the country remains focused on the disaster which occurred in Grand Riviere, Matelot and Toco following torrential rains last week, residents of Brasso Seco are now begging for assistance from the relevant authorities.
Secretary of the Village Council Winston Maraj said yesterday that about four houses were partially destroyed and crops washed away as a result of persistent rains last Tuesday and Wednesday.
The rains caused several landslides which also resulted in outages of electricity and the loss of telephone connection.
“The Madamas Road and the Siparia Main Road are cut off. Crops have been lost, implements have been lost and houses have been damaged. One house in particular was destroyed because a tree fell on it,” Maraj said.
Crops which were lost included tomato, christophene, bananas and cocoa.
He added that the Pentecostal church was also damaged by landslides and needed rebuilding.
The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) ,he added, visited the area on Thursday and Friday and began preliminary work, but Maraj said much more could be done.
“The ODPM came with the Ministry of Works with a backhoe, but they are Government workers so they don’t work over the weekend. But we still have a lot of work to get done,” Maraj said.
He said what was urgently needed was an excavator for the Madamas Road, adding parts of the road were so broken that it was almost impossible for people to pass.
“We need to urgently clear the road and to rebuild it. Some of the transformers with the poles are lost down in the valley,” he said.
Maraj said a meeting was expected to take place this week to determine what building material was needed to repair damaged structures.
Calls made to ODPM director Dr Stephen Ramroop went unanswered yesterday.
Over the weekend, Matelot was reconnected to the rest of Trinidad as a Bailey bridge was installed over the Bacasa River, allowing vehicles and villagers to move out and into their community.
The village was marooned for the last few days after heavy rains caused the bridge to be washed away last Wednesday, separating the villagers from the rest of the country. Villagers were also finally able to get relief supplies like water, tins of bread, biscuits, cots, rice, battery lamps and two-burner stoves.