Drainage work is being done to improve T&T’s flood defenses, following a deluge last week Wednesday.

“The fact that the Prime Minister has asked a series of ministries, ministers, to have responsibility for various things when there is a natural disaster, to come together and look at the response, should indicate that we do believe that there is need for improvement, there is no doubt,” said Works and Transport Minister Colm Imbert at yesterday’s post-Cabinet press conference at the new Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair.

Imbert said Cabinet had approved an accelerated programme to clear rivers, as well as main and minor watercourses, following the development of what he called “a significant number of tropical storms forming in the Atlantic.”

Imbert said: “I think there are currently four of them (tropical depressions) and also the unusual events of the last months, where we had unusual rainfall (leading to the review of the drainage systems in the country).

It was estimated that there was 119 mm or five inches of rainfall on August 27, resulting in flooding in the Claxton Bay area.

According to Imbert, this was above the average daily rainfall for the month of August.

Imbert had attributed the flooding problem in the country to the unprecedented pace of development, both at the level of the State and private sectors. KM