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CCNTV6
  • 2 years ago
After facing floods and intruders for years, one HDC Real Springs resident constructs a wall to protect his family. He has been given until Friday to demolish his 5 foot wall so that the corporation can construct a 3 foot wall.


Urvashi Tiwari Roopnarine was in the community on Tuesday.
Transcript
00:00 In 2020, when Sheldon Jardine moved his family into this townhouse in Real Springs, Val Saine,
00:07 it was supposed to be a progressive move in all their lives.
00:11 Aside from finishing and repairs springing up from time to time, two major issues plague
00:18 their sense of comfort.
00:20 To be honest, I lost count with the flooding, but I can tell you for sure in August 19,
00:24 2020, it had flooded.
00:26 I have proof of that where it was literally a foot away from the door.
00:30 That same year, we had three intruders trespassing onto our property.
00:35 One of them actually where they tried to open the window while my significant other was
00:41 nursing my newborn.
00:42 Residents in the adjoining NUGFW development told him their Real Springs development flooded
00:49 in 2018 before it was occupied.
00:52 Jardine says Real Springs being very low in elevation and adjoining one of the main tributaries
00:59 leading to the Karenie River acts as a drain off for surrounding areas.
01:04 This area had actually flooded in 2018 and they actually gave us pictures of such.
01:10 So that was one of our major concerns.
01:13 He and other residents wrote to the Housing Development Corporation to be notified of
01:18 their boundaries, but they received no response for one year and eight months.
01:24 In the absence of a response and exposure to repeated risks, residents like Jardine
01:30 constructed walls.
01:31 In his case, he went more inward as compared to those erected by neighbors.
01:36 In June of this year, residents received this notification.
01:42 Residents of Real Springs on the southern side would have encroached outside of their
01:47 boundary and erected concrete structures and they also would have communicated that
01:52 we are required to remove such structures.
01:55 After a few rounds of discussion with HDC, he feels their perspective was simply ignored.
02:02 Residents have since been given a nine-day deadline.
02:05 They must remove their structures by this Friday so HDC can erect its own three-foot
02:11 flood wall, according to this resident, offering less protection from floods and intruders.
02:18 My current wall right now, it is six feet right now where we stand.
02:21 The reason why is because I would have backfilled nearly two and a half to three feet in my
02:25 property.
02:26 So if you take a measurement now, it's estimated it's six feet from the ground to the top.
02:32 Jardine says he's not laying claim to any additional land, but wants an engineering
02:38 solution that meets or surpasses what he has in place.
02:43 It came to the point where residents had to take matters into their own hands and do what
02:47 they had to do.
02:48 Again, you're paying a mortgage to live comfortably and peacefully and that was not happening.
02:53 Using the advice of a civil engineer, Jardine has constructed three sumps to collect water,
02:59 he's bought pumps, installed floodgates and constructed the wall.
03:04 For me personally, I have gone to the extreme because what my family went through, I made
03:08 a promise to them that we are not going to go through that again.
03:12 There's a picture in my mind I will never forget where last year when we flooded, my
03:16 child had to be escorted off a rooftop in order to leave this community and that picture
03:21 I will never forget.
03:23 With the deadline fast approaching, he looks forward to an amicable resolution.
03:28 We attempted to contact the Housing Development Corporation and was assured we would be contacted
03:33 by someone knowledgeable of the matter.
03:36 We received no call up until news time.
03:40 Arvishi Tamari, Rupnur Eye, TV6 News.
03:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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