Several people climbed on the hoods of their vehicles to escape flood waters and police set up a mobile unit to control traffic, as chaos broke out on the Solomon Hochoy in Central and South Trinidad yesterday.
The highway was turned into a single-lane and traffic piled up for miles for several hours.
There was havoc on the highway and in many parts of South and Central Trinidad, after more than two hours of torrential rains accompanied by thunder and lightning.
Thousands of people were said to be have been affected and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management was standing by for the waters to recede before going in with aid.
Residents in Point Fortin and Tabaquite were also said to have been hard hit and last night there were reports that flood waters were rising along the Penal-Quinam Road.
Hundreds of workers were sent home as several business places closed early.
A number of functions, including the public consultation on the proposed broadcasting code, which was scheduled to take place at City Hall, San Fernando, were cancelled. Several speakers from Port of Spain were unable to reach the venue because of the massive highway traffic pile-up.
At the Servol Advanced Skills Training Centre, just of the highway at Forres Park, Claxton Bay, about 35 cars were submerged in water. Martin Pacheco, executive director at the centre, said 70 teachers were attending a two-day training when the rain started.
"We were trapped inside the school. The classrooms were flooded and our cars cannot start because the water got inside and apparently damaged the engines," he said yesterday evening.
Pacheco said classes at the centre will be postponed for a week for clean up operations.
"There is debris in every classroom, so we would not be able to start classes until this is cleaned up," he said.
In the confusion, a Kiss Baking Company Limited van which was parked near school, and several other vehicles were looted by some villagers and other motorists, eyewitnesses said. The van was taking goods to supermarkets in Gasparillo, it was learned.
And in Gasparillo, a car was washed away into a river.
Daryl Ramroop said the heavy rains brought three feet of water into his garage, where his blue Mitsubishi Lancer was parked.
"I was inside the house and when I looked out to see what was going on I saw my car going down into the river next to our house. By the time I reached it was almost submerged into the water," he said.
Ramroop, a security guard, said neighbours helped him drag the car out of the river.
"But it cannot start because water got inside the bonnet and the engine," he said.
And a man returned home from work to find his house washed away in the flood.
Mootee Parsam, who lives at Forres Park, Claxton Bay, said his two-room house was dragged about five metres to the flyover.
"I could not believe it, my house was washed away with everything inside. I lost every thing I owned," he said.
Police set up the mobile post near the Claxton Bay overpass and allowed two-way traffic along the north-bound lane.
A Public Transportation Services Corporation (PTSC) bus, which was en route to Port of Spain from San Fernando, stalled along the highway, near Claxton Bay, with passengers inside.
A passenger, Joan Hinds, said the scenes she witnessed were unbelievable.
"Within 15 to 20 minutes cars were covered with water and people were standing on the hoods, some were taking the risk and walking out of the floods with water almost covering them. The bus could not move and water was seeping inside. A man who was inside the bus asked to get out. He placed his girlfriend on his shoulder and swam out," she said.
Joan Hinds, who lives at Pleasantville, said the passengers waited inside the bus until the water subsided. "We stayed inside there, frightened to get out. When the water went down, another bus came and we went inside that one and was on our way to Port of Spain," she said.
The stalled bus remained parked along the highway with almost five feet of water inside. Scores of cars, which were stalled by the flood waters, were pushed onto the shoulder.
