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Flood stories From Sarawee and Sitee
posted (June 18, 2013)
As we showed you at the top of the Newscast, Hope Creek experienced flooding which affected the low-lying areas of the village, and forced 54 residents to evacuate to the hurricane shelter.

Well, Sarawee and Sittee River had their own share of flooding from Tropical Depression 2, and while on survey of the affected areas, we stopped in at both villages.

Here's what one villager told us about how the rise in water surprised him, even though it was a weak storm:

Steven Emmanuel Sr. - Resident, Sarawee Village
"It started from about 10:00 and I went to my bed and took a little nap and when I woke up about 3 it went down about 3 - 4 inches and then this morning it came up back a little higher because it was 3 inch to enter my house and this morning when I noticed, it almost entered the house. This is the first time i see that it takes so long to go down."

Daniel Ortiz "Was there anyone from Sarawee who had to evacuate from low lying areas which had dangerous experiences with flooding?"

Steven Emmanuel Sr. "Yes they have a few people that live in the North west side and over there at the east side but not to evacuate out of the village, just to get to higher land in the same village."

Daniel Ortiz "What you're looking at, is your yard and it looks like a pool."

Steven Emmanuel Sr. "You know from 10:00 last night until now, normally 2-3 hours the water would run already."

Daniel Ortiz "And that is the street outside we're looking at."

Steven Emmanuel Sr. "Yes this is one street. I wonder if we're facing this problem now because I can remember many years and this didn't used to happen and I can remember that I don't really remember if it was (I don't want to call names) they dug out the bank side from the river and now the change now. Water used to pass by but not hanging like this."

Daniel Ortiz "We understand this is just a depression, we can only imagine if it was a hurricane and if it was centralized in this area - flooding would have been uncontrollable, your house would have been under water as well."

Steven Emmanuel Sr. "I guess so."

And while that was Sarawee, Sittee River Village also had minor effects of the storm, the most significant being that the river swelled over a section of the road, making it impassable by vehicles.

We caught up with a few villagers who were on duty to ferry people across, and they told us about what they experienced last night and this morning:

Marlon Reynaud - Resident, Sittee River Village "This is from yesterday it came up high from this morning and by this afternoon it was already high and it will probably go down back by midday so we're just praying that it goes down back."

Daniel Ortiz "How do you get people across one side of the street to the other side?"

Marlon Reynaud "We use the canoe."

Daniel Ortiz "To someone who doesn't know about this village or this road, where does the street start and where does the river start? If you look at it you wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

Marlon Reynaud "Where we are now a vehicle length is the street and the river is right there, yyou will be able to tell the difference."

Daniel Ortiz "But if you don't know where you are, you might step to the river bank and be washed away."

Marlon Reynaud "You really have to know more or less or else you will go that way. You have to know how to drive on this road."

Daniel Ortiz "Can vehicles really pass this way right now?"

Marlon Reynaud "Only to the basketball court and that's it."

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