Flash rains in Port Louis this morning till 1h30, many places have been flooded including, the bus terminal, victoria square, John.F Kennedy Street, Near Caudan Underground, and also on one of the streets leading to Place D'armes.
Also, The roads were all jammed for entrying Port Louis as usual when the rain starts falling heavily, and a few accidents have been reported on the way to Port Louis.
This is however not the first and surely not the last time, as you will see in the pictures, the canals/water drains are not well maintained and obstructed with debris which do not allow the free flow of water.
Also, to add to that, some places are not at all provided with water drains whereby some people work and those persons were forced not to work today with those drastic conditions. Some houses were flooded completly, and others were not accessible !!
Some accidents happened also, whereby people fell into water drains which were submerged with water and also students fell in canals and drenched till mid body ! however, no injuries till now have been reported, this situation is quite astonishing for a half day rainfall.
Policemen were not seen anywhere in the city centre of Port Louis, else they were themselves hiding the bad weather conditions.
Before thinking about building a state of the art city at highlands, the authorities should have renovated the gem city of the island meanwhile which would in anyways remain the biggest touristic city of the whole indian ocean.
Also, The roads were all jammed for entrying Port Louis as usual when the rain starts falling heavily, and a few accidents have been reported on the way to Port Louis.
This is however not the first and surely not the last time, as you will see in the pictures, the canals/water drains are not well maintained and obstructed with debris which do not allow the free flow of water.
Also, to add to that, some places are not at all provided with water drains whereby some people work and those persons were forced not to work today with those drastic conditions. Some houses were flooded completly, and others were not accessible !!
Some accidents happened also, whereby people fell into water drains which were submerged with water and also students fell in canals and drenched till mid body ! however, no injuries till now have been reported, this situation is quite astonishing for a half day rainfall.
Before thinking about building a state of the art city at highlands, the authorities should have renovated the gem city of the island meanwhile which would in anyways remain the biggest touristic city of the whole indian ocean.
wow...thats a lot of water! :o
ReplyDeleteYeah... saw those "lakes" in Port Louis. We should expect more of these heavy rains in the future & build accordingly. :S
ReplyDeleteyeaa.. indeed, we really need plannification of buildings and so on.. coz soo many buildings are in port louis now but the basic facilities have remained the same like 10 years ago !! .. that's a pity!! Those persons elected at the municipal council should be ashamed !
ReplyDeleteWell, it's bad to say that the Police were not doing their work. They were indeed doing...there were Police Patrols (in their jeeps, you don't expect to get soaked in that bloody rain -- come on they are humans as well, and they don't have super powers), they were checking the situation around. What else could they do?
ReplyDeleteEven the firemen helped in getting water out of people's houses.
About the drains/canals, with so much of constant heavy rainfall, it's obvious that these would be over-flooded and hence lakes on the streets.
At the time I had to leave home for university, the streets were already being flooded, and water was indeed running. People could have fallen in such a current of water. And the wise decision was to stay at home.
P.S: In case my comments were blunt, I excuse myself. I was just being realistic and my intention was not to hurt anyone. I expressed my opinion only.
Regards,
Chaya
I guess they ought to have done better than just checking the situation, by the constitution, the duty of policemen as a civil servant is not comparable to other civil servants, for example during a crisis, if a policeman don't obey to his superior, he is liable of the martial court !!
ReplyDeleteIt is however not obvious that the drains are over flowned, the fing is that they are blocked with all sorts of rubbish, and the planning of the city needs to be reviewed to put more water draining systems which are currently not enough for big rains.
However, in my own point of view, when the city centre is left to itself and to the shop owners to clean the canals to make water go, i think the whole management of city should be reviewed and also a Rapid response Unit in times of rapid rains should be put in place which is currently inexistant in Mauritius, a good example of such a system exists in venice, italy.
i live in port louis..i strolled around port louis but no sign of any policemen...chaya, everyone is a human being obviously but what about those who were workin under such adamant rain?like z hawkers?those poor ppl who r striving hard 2 get a lil earnin by z end of z day? shud we get a jeep 4 em as well?
ReplyDeletedo u live in port louis? have u strolled round victoria bus terminal? all these hawkers who r soaking to death just 2 sell their remaining vegetables or wotsoeva..i have seen a student fallin into canal replete wiv water n his frens were helping him out from ther..wher wer z police? a guy lost balance n fell into moving water in canal..he was running away from z harsh rain..thx 2 God, he gained his balance n stood up again..mind u, his slippers got broken..are those not human beings? they are running everywhere 2 hide from z rain..YET they r gettin soaked gal! ther was a huge traffic jam as well..
well it all depends on wot uv seen tho..i dnt blame u 4 dat dear chaya...
"the wise decision was to stay at home" was meant 4 only u or the others? ppl work 2 earn their livin 2 get thru dis hectic life nowadays..shud they stop workin 4 a day?if they wud hav listened 2 u, u wud hav flashin news z day after on tv dat thers economic crisis in z country..lol dats z craze 4 z moment..any petty fin, thers economic crisis!lol
i dnt intend 2 blame any1..but just askin any1 of u 2 hav an observin eye..
well as 4 u ashfaq, nice pictures:) i came across sum of em on ma way:) n kip informin ppl of ur town:P
cheers...
Good thing I remained safe and warm at home. :D
ReplyDeleteport louis tou les temp malang meme li.
ReplyDeleteYou can't blame the police since they can't be omnipresent nor omnipotent enough to control the weather :p
@morinn - yeaa twena raison.. i had to go out, love strolling around in such weather ! lolzz..
ReplyDelete@selven - yeaa pa kapave everywhere and can't control weather, i understand, but kan meme zotte ti bizen visible dans bane main places kotte ena boucou dimunes p circuler and kotte ena debordement to help out. And also, administration de la ville bien fautif, fallait arrive 1 drame pou pran compte kitsoz. Ek lors la, boucou lekols ti larguer around mid-day, ek zenfants lekols partou.. Definitely, mwa mo penser bizen 1 plan kuma venice, kuma ena bane situations kumsa, to pa kapave leave the population to themselves, ena dimunes sorti buro tousala, zotte bizen capave alle zotte lakaz..
Dans venise, partout kotte ena dimunes bizen passer pou aller en nombre..kuma between la gare du nord ek la gare victoria.. ti bizen faire mette blocks ek poz tole lors la.. dimune kpave marche lors la aller!.. pa p dire bizen faire sa entier port louis, but minimum kotte dimune passer.. la gare victoria ine inonder nette !! .. la gare la ine couper en deux ek 1 torrent la boue !! .. si to p alle curepipe/reduit/qb..to oblizer passe dans sa la boue la pou to alle pran to bus..lolz.. moris pied dans l'eau ! hahahhahahha
"I guess they ought to have done better than just checking the situation, by the constitution" Do what actually?? Walk in the rains, empty the overflooded drains? Tire delo ek met li kot sa?
ReplyDelete"the fing is that they are blocked with all sorts of rubbish" Why?? This is because there is a certain category of people who do not know how to use dustbins, or even the hawkers do not clean their space they occupy on the streets! Or even, there are some regions in Port Louis, where you won't find any dustbins. That's another issue however ;)
The Rapid Response Unit stuff is a very nice proposal, the question is would the Government of Mauritius want to invest in that?
Well, I live at Vallee Des Pretres, situated in Port Louis, contolled/managed by the Municipal Council of Port Louis. That day, it was raining cats and dogs since morning. And indeed, there were police patrols, maybe not in all regions of Port Louis.
Those who were working in the adamant rain, should have stopped working during the heavy rain, in such a heavy rainfall, who will stop by the hawkers to buy something? Demin, si sa bane hawkers la malade, zot pu vine dir, be akoz mone travay dan gro la pli ki mone malade, gouvernement pane met shelter pu mo travay...ek gouvernement bizin done moi compensation... Come on, these people need to be responsible enough to know when to work and when not to work. Bane planteurs ti p reste travay dan gro la pli mem, parski sa mem zot gagne pain. Mem si zot p recolter lor montagne, gagne glissement terrain ek tasser la bas em...Ek debordement dessane depi montagne, la riviere deborder net...the wise decision would be, to leave everything and sape zot la peau! We should think and act in a responsible manner.
I don't say you are wrong. I respect your point of view.
Can't blame the rain for someone losing balance. If that same someone, lost balance during a sunny day and fell in the canal, would that be the mistake of the police for not being there?
Mem ek parapluie, mem under any shelter, people got soaked in the rain...because there was the wind as well.
The wise decision was to stay at home, was for everyone. Kan zot ine kpav done conger akoz president chinoi, akoz election partielle, akoz pa koner koi enkor, ki ti ena si ene bon majorite dimoune pa ale travay?? sa lepok la pa ti ena economik crisis?? ou zis kan dimoune la absent ki ena economik crisis??
I know I have been hyper critical in replying here, and I excuse myself for that. I did not target any one. I just took comment, and argued the points. And in no way, did I try to flame you. I excuse myself again. I might be wrong and you might be right, and vice versa.
"Do what actually?? Walk in the rains, empty the overflooded drains?"- They are policemen, not ordinary civil servants, they are like military, like SMF which intervenes in such situations to help out!! That's PART OF THEIR JOB !!
ReplyDelete"Or even, there are some regions in Port Louis, where you won't find any dustbins."- That's the actual Issue and furthermore, PEOPLE NOT RESIDING IN PORT LOUIS COME TO MY TOWN AND FOU 1 TAS DEZORD EK LAISSE TOU LAMEME ALLER !!!
"the question is would the Government of Mauritius want to invest in that?"- Ofcourse they WONT invest, they are sooo full of themselves..
"Demin, si sa bane hawkers la malade, zot pu vine dir, be akoz mone travay dan gro la pli ki mone malade"- I do not think they will say anything like this ein ! lolzz..
"Bane planteurs ti p reste travay dan gro la pli mem, parski sa mem zot gagne pain." well said, TI P RESTE!! they don't anymore, why ?? because government give them money, kuma ena gros la pluie, zotte caro legumes destroy, they get compensation from government, that's why they don't care a shit.
hawkers, pena caro legumes li, they don't even have a room on their name, zotte travay gramatin pou manzer le soir!
"That day, it was raining cats and dogs since morning. And indeed, there were police patrols," Some kalyanee .. a deputy ensures that her birthplace is well taken care of by police, tant mieux pour valle des pretres, it is not the case for all regions of port louis whereby, the deputies are sooo full of shit..
"Can't blame the rain for someone losing balance. If that same someone, lost balance during a sunny day and fell in the canal"- The water by it's properties its always level, like in a bottle of water, watever way you turn the bottle, the water level will remain horizontal, same for the canal, when the canal is FULL, their is no way to know how deep the canal is, during sunny day, you can indeed see it is canal, but during rainy day kan canal la plein, you don't see anything since the water level is same height everywhere..!!pheewww..
it was a pleasure clearing those points for you ;)
Really sad about what happened to day. But it is to be noted that accumulation of water is along the motorway and Place D'arme. this is the lowest point in Port Louis. Port louis is surrounded by mountains and a exit point/low point at the harbour. Dont know if anyone remember the area at Caudan water front thirty to thirty five years back. sea water used to come on land atfer cyclones we used to see that. Now with development this area has been raised creating a bassin. As for the underpass it known that water flow to the low point and that what actually happens until it same level every where. It shame that our system is very slow to react. Hope for the best for this country.
ReplyDelete