The flooding last weekend, Keshorn Walcott’s Gold Medal in London, and how we dealt with these issues, fall right into my ongoing theme concerning the truth about our fifty years as an allegedly independent nation.
The dreadful flooding in Diego Martin and La Horquette in particular has been fifty years in the making. And now, having acquired all of the factors required to repeat once a month through the rainy season, we can acknowledge the cost of our “development” over the last fifty years.
The dreadful flooding in Diego Martin and La Horquette in particular has been fifty years in the making. And now, having acquired all of the factors required to repeat once a month through the rainy season, we can acknowledge the cost of our “development” over the last fifty years.
For, make no mistake about it, it was man, the people of this country, from humble squatter slash and burn gardener, through single homeowner building on his hillside, to the wealthy “developer”, who brought those floods and landslips down upon the people.
It was not “Gord”, performing one of His/Her “Acks of Gord”; it was not “a once in thirty year rain event”, or “strange stationary cloud” as Colm Imbert used to claim when he was minister who should have borne responsibility for flooding.
It was not “Gord”, performing one of His/Her “Acks of Gord”; it was not “a once in thirty year rain event”, or “strange stationary cloud” as Colm Imbert used to claim when he was minister who should have borne responsibility for flooding.
It was not the “high tide” which caused it, and notwithstanding Imbert’s and other fools’ nonsense, the City of Port of Spain is not “below sea level” and does not need a dyke to stop the flooding. But one thing that Opposition has done for Colm, is that it gave him eyesight. Where he used to see God causing floods, he now sees drains in need of cleaning. You see when God cleaned the PNM and Juliana Pena from our lives, the blind begin to see!
The first “great flood” in the Diego Martin Valley took place in 1961 or ‘62, just about fifty years ago. The solution then was to straighten and concrete the Diego Martin River, to prepare for the development of the Diamond Vale housing.
The first “great flood” in the Diego Martin Valley took place in 1961 or ‘62, just about fifty years ago. The solution then was to straighten and concrete the Diego Martin River, to prepare for the development of the Diamond Vale housing.
The concrete canal served the valley until the early 1980’s, when as a result of the buildings of the first oil boom, the canal was silted up from the massive dirt runoff from the hills, our developers doing nothing to retain the slopes, so the lower reaches of the Diego martin Canal silted up and caused regular flooding of the valley. Intermittent, like once every few years, last year being one, dredging of the river mouth and delta, mitigated against the regular flooding.
But even if the canal, and all its feeder box drains, installed where forested tributaries used to run, was totally dredged and cleared all the time, recent “normal rainfall events”, such as we had last weekend, will cause massive flooding in the valley.
The continued stripping of the hills which make up the Diego Martin valley, to literally clad the hillsides with galvanize and asphalt, has caused such a rapid runoff of water during heavy rainfall, that the box drains and main canal simply cannot cope. It is like trying to pour a bucket of water rapidly through a funnel. Overflow must occur. And this will continue through this year and in the foreseeable future. Accept it! We have no other choice.
But all this tragedy gave the government opportunity to photo-op and try to look proactive.
But even if the canal, and all its feeder box drains, installed where forested tributaries used to run, was totally dredged and cleared all the time, recent “normal rainfall events”, such as we had last weekend, will cause massive flooding in the valley.
The continued stripping of the hills which make up the Diego Martin valley, to literally clad the hillsides with galvanize and asphalt, has caused such a rapid runoff of water during heavy rainfall, that the box drains and main canal simply cannot cope. It is like trying to pour a bucket of water rapidly through a funnel. Overflow must occur. And this will continue through this year and in the foreseeable future. Accept it! We have no other choice.
But all this tragedy gave the government opportunity to photo-op and try to look proactive.
Tours of the damage, hugs for the victims, blame for the previous government, and of course, back-patting ads in the papers by Sunday morning! Although I accept that the response by the authorities seemed good, and acceptable to many, I found the running of the newspaper ads to be offensive.
People are still suffering and trying to come to terms with their losses, and the government manages, in less than half a day, to publish all their full-page self-congratulatory ads, not just about Keshorn, but about their presence at the disaster scenes.
And clearly it was the rush of flood into her mind that caused Kamla to give this nation a holiday for Keshorn’s Gold. Hundreds of thousands of idle people celebrate the hard work of one athlete by drinking and feteing.
And clearly it was the rush of flood into her mind that caused Kamla to give this nation a holiday for Keshorn’s Gold. Hundreds of thousands of idle people celebrate the hard work of one athlete by drinking and feteing.
And if Keshorn Walcott appears in the Hasely Crawford Stadium next month to compete, we will have, maybe a hundred people turn up there. When, or if we ever become a Nation, we will support our athletes as they perform, not just at their fetes. And it is this mad stampede where every wannabe dignitary rushes to shine in the reflection of Keshorn’s Gold Medal that causes us to forget all the other athletes.
We cannot call back the holiday, but we can respect and emulate young Keshorn. And we cannot prevent the Diego Martin floods still to come this year, for we have ruined that valley.
We cannot call back the holiday, but we can respect and emulate young Keshorn. And we cannot prevent the Diego Martin floods still to come this year, for we have ruined that valley.
But we can save the other valleys of the Northern Range from the same denudation, and in so doing, save the east west corridor from the flooding to come. Can we understand and apply this logic over the next fifty years?
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