FOR the second time in five days, heavy rains made a big deposit at the Trincity Mall branch of RBTT yesterday.

And the water flowing in through the western entrance of the mall yesterday also flooded out the popular eye-wear retail store Raycool.

Both RBTT and Raycool, which are located opposite each other, were also adversely affected by Saturday's heavy showers that ravaged the East-West Corridor.

RBTT was not opened on the first day of flooding but customers were also unable to use the automated teller machines (ATM) because the ground floor of the mall was flooded.

But yesterday's waters rushed in during working hours and the bank was forced to close for almost three hours so clean-up operations could be completed.

There were approximately 20 customers inside the bank when the mid-morning waters arrived. The bank was forced to close from 11.45 a.m. to 1.30 p.m.

However, Raycool was not spared from either of the two days of disruptions. They closed early on Saturday and also lost several customer hours yesterday.

An employee of Raycool, who requested anonymity, said the entire situation was "very frustrating". She also lamented the fact that despite them being paying tenants of the mall, they had to foot the bill for the cleaning. When the Express visited the mall yesterday, there were two supersoppers- the large sponge covered roller machines used to soak up excess water- cleaning the corridor between the two flood-affected businesses, along with several sandbags on the floor. While inside the bank, a cleaning crew from Century 21 were hard at work.

Employees from both businesses have blamed the flooding on the mall's expansion, which they claimed covered a previous underground water passage. However, despite losing valuable customer hours, the two businesses did not lose any merchandise or equipment, the employees said.