By Newsday reporters Friday, July 30 2010

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ALL SLIDE DOWN: The landslide off the Western Main Road which occurred when the retaining wall of this private property collapsed after yesterday's th...

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IT RAINED in the country for most of the day yesterday. And the showers brought with it flooding, landslides, miles of traffic jam along the east/west corridor and frustration for motorists and pedestrians alike.

A retaining wall along the Western Main Road collapsed under the heavy shower resulting in a landslide which blocked half of that busy road, exacerbating the already bad traffic jam. The retaining wall located in the vicinity of Sunset Drive West, Westmoorings, fell during heavy rains early yesterday evening. The mud and debris of the ensuing landslide then spilled over onto the eastbound lane of the road causing traffic on that lane to come to a halt.

This caused traffic to back up as far as West Mall on the Eastern side and as far back as the new Carenage Gas Station.

Ministry of Works and Transport personnel, escorted by police, arrived quickly on the scene and were able to clear the debris by 5.30 pm. However, up to late last evening, traffic from the East still crawled into Carenage. Local Government Minister Chandresh Sharma, speaking on the collapsed wall said, “It was a private wall which collapsed. It is cleared now and there is nothing to worry about.”

The inclement weather condition was caused by the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and the Met Office weather forecast last night, said more rains and thundershowers are expected today.

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) issued a situational update on the affected areas. A landslide occurred on Lady Young Road (east bound lane) in the vicinity of the back entrance of the Hilton Hotel.

The Traffic lights along Churchill Roosevelt Highway between the Aranjuez intersection and Tunapuna were not operational causing traffic congestion. Significant flooding was reported for areas in Port-of Spain, Tunapuna/Piarco and San Juan Laventille region. In the vicinity of the country’s capital, flooded areas were Beetham Gardens, East Dry River, Piccadily Street, parts of South Quay, Tragarete Rroad and Wrightson Road.

Commuters using the Public Transport Service Corporation’s Deluxe Coach service were also affected as flood waters prevented persons from entering coach buses. In the Tunapuna/Piarco Region, Freeman Road and Orange Grove Road in St Augustine, parts of Macoya and parts of St Joseph were affected by flooding. Finance Minister and Tunapuna MP, Winston Dookeran said he was aware of reports of flooding in his area. He said he contacted his constituency office to ensure employees were looking to ascertain if persons were affected. He added that the new councillors for the area were also told to go into their areas to appraise the situation.

Dookeran assured that he would go to his constituency office to be informed of any problems.

Jubilee Street in Aranjuez was also affected. Nonetheless there were no reports of infrastructural damage or loss of lives. ODPM’s information specialist, Dick Noel said they did not expect Trinidad to be affected the way it was, but assured they will continue to monitor weather conditions.

Large sections of Woodbrook were also flooded with residents expressing fear for their properties when the flood on the main road rose so high as to invade their yards and in some cases, the ground floor of homes and businesses.