00:00United Nations Development Goal No. 11 speaks to sustainable cities and communities,
00:29making them resilient, sustainable, inclusive, and safe. Now a part of that would rely on
00:36preparation and that is where the community flood early warning system or CFU's comes in.
00:59In 2018, there was no such system. Rivers across Trinidad burst their banks, leaving many parts of the country reeling from what was one of the worst flooding disasters seen around that time.
01:13The trauma lingered for Greenvale residents where water rose to nearly 10 feet. It was an urgent signal for preventative action to be taken. The discussions began.
01:23Head of the Disaster Management Unit Jerry David tells us CFU's was implemented with a budget of about $1.25 million, 250,000 of which came from the Red Cross.
01:35We were able to procure 13 stream flow stations. So when it comes to who were the first people getting involved in it, it was really Water Resource Agency, Red Cross, and of course the Ministry of World Development and Local Government.
01:51A year later, the United Nations Development Program by way of funding from the European Union to the tune of $5 million added another seven stations, five in Trinidad and two in Tobago.
02:03Those stream flow stations with solar power transmitters like this one positioned over the Maraval River opposite Fatima College monitor water levels through sensors.
02:14The sensor is taking up data as the water in the river rises. Of course, it is using radio signals and the radio signals go to the repeater. There are two repeaters, one at Cumberland and the other one in Coover. So the information is sent to the repeater.
02:39The repeater sends the information to Water Resource Agency. They are the ones who have the portal that can interpret the data.
02:48The farm is taking the data.
02:51It is then fed to the computerized system at the DMU's office at Kent House and disseminated through a comprehensive dashboard to other responder agencies and the public.
03:02Now, you can tell that Carony is at 99.9% about to overflow its banks. If you see something like that, you know that there are highly residential areas within there. How has that changed the response of the DMU?
03:18Now, it means that you still like wait for calls and so on to come in. We still we still have to wait because it's not everybody will be impacted at the same time. Yeah, areas there where people have built in resilience to flood waters.
03:34But there are also areas that are quite the opposite and which the bursting of a river bank spells trouble like Manuel Congo, El Carmen and the north and south Oropuche basins.
03:45Once we see the water levels, we know immediately who we have to inform to tell them even before they call us. We call them and tell them, listen, the river level is rising.
03:58And it's time for if you need help to go to a safer location, call us. We will help you.
04:05In August of 2025, Tara Loachan Singh lost her life in the Matura River, swept away by a strong current as she saved her five year old granddaughter.
04:15During our interview with David, the Maraval River was quiet and very low. The clouds blackened over the northwestern hills with rain in the distance. Then suddenly, a small wave of water made its way downstream.
04:30Becoming a fairly large gush within a matter of two minutes. David is focused on the technological advancement of the stream flow stations.
04:45Our next move on this, however, is what I'm excited about. And I've been working at this for a number of years, hopefully I can get it done, is to put cameras on this stream flow station.
04:57When we have cameras on it, it will mean we will not only know what the levels of the rivers are, but we'll be able to have eyes. So in case someone is in this river and they need to be rescued, we can know where they are.
05:12David tells us at least six day water courses have been outlined as crucial for monitoring by the Water Resource Agency.
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