The Civil Defence Commission sprang into action on Christmas day after a flash flood left homes in Endeavour on the island of Legaun (Region Three) inundated after a koker door gave way.
The residents commended the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) for their quick response in providing relief to affected households. The commission dispatched a team to the island on Wednesday to distribute hampers of cleaning supplies and conducted a damage assessment. Transportation to the island was facilitated by the Coast Guard.
Nirajan Pooran whose house was inundated with water expressed his appreciation. “We appreciate what they [CDC] have given us because it will be useful in cleaning up the house.”
While Zorida Khan lauded the fact that the commission did not delay. “It’s a good thing, they came right away the next day…it’s not like they delayed which is very nice”
The team distributed 38 hampers to those affected in Endeavour.
According to the residents, the incident occurred due to negligence on the part of the opposition-controlled Leguan NDC.
Speaking to the DPI, Deoram Haimraj, a resident of the community for 36 years stated that he has never experienced flooding of this magnitude before. According to him, the NDC is to be blamed as they failed to replace the door with one that was readily available.
“The council made a new door but they waited until this door broke before they installed the new door,” he said adding “if they had put it on, we would have gotten the flood.”
Another resident, Rambeer shared similar sentiments. He too opined that if the new door had been installed, the disaster could have been averted.
On December 24, the CDC received reports of flooding in the communities of Endeavour and Amsterdam in Region Three.
According to a release from the commission, representatives from the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MoPI) and the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) were deployed to the affected communities to conduct assessments and determine what are the immediate needs. The initial assessment indicated that approximately 30 homes have been inundated with water levels between 6 and 9 inches.
A metal stop log door was installed by the MOPI team on Tuesday before the next expected high tide and to prevent any further flooding
The water had receded. Meanwhile, the CDC continues to monitor the situation.
(Department of Public Information)
