Prime Minister’s Statement On Flooding
At around 4:00 a.m. a heavy downpour began and continued relentlessly for two hours recording over four inches of rain just in that period alone.
This created massive flooding in various parts of the island but the deluge has affected mainly the north of the island.
An immediate First Reaction Response team was triggered and went into action early this morning.
I have been advised that as a result of the extreme damage and human tragedy Diego Martin has been declared a Disaster Area and immediate steps will be taken to establish an Emergency Relief Fund for those citizens who are in urgent need of assistance.
I wish to express my immediate deep regret at the loss of life of two people confirmed.
I have asked the Minister of National Security to provide me the details and to meet with the affected families.
I express my own heartfelt sympathy to them. Reports have also come in that reveal that there are at least two missing persons and I await confirmation on the details on this.
I pray that these individuals are found to be safe and sound.
I also wish to congratulate the First Reaction Response team for their quick action and to express my gratitude to the private sector for their immediate response.
If we had not reacted as quickly as we did the situation could have been
much worse.
At this point the ODPM has coordinated with the military, police and fire services for deployment to all affected areas along with earth moving equipment.
Relief supplies and evacuation teams are deployed across the affected areas.
Shelters have been established with supplies.
Bulletins will be issued on an ongoing basis throughout the day.
They say behind every dark cloud there is a silver lining. For Trinidad and Tobago at this time there is a gold lining behind the dark clouds and tragedy of the floods as 19 year old Keshorn Walcott secured a gold medal for our nation at the Olympics in the Men’s Javelin Throw. This is a timely reminder to our nation that against all odds we can rise to achieve great heights. We also added another bronze, moments later, when our national Men’s 4 x 100 metre Relay Team won bronze to add to the Men’s 4 x 400 metre bronze on Friday and our Bronze in the Men’s 400 metre secured before that ensuring our nation won more medals at this Olympics than ever.
These events lift our troubled hearts at this time and give us good cause for celebration. To all our athletes who did our nation proud as we qualified so many times taking the name of Trinidad and Tobago to be in the finals of the Olympics competing against the world’s best, we say thank you for the pride, the passion and the patriotism. It is a fitting tribute to our Nation’s 50th Anniversary celebration.
