Inefficient City Planning from inception or Inefficient Drainage systems? What is the cause of Port of Spain flooding?

                When constructing houses, communities and larger settlements, flat land is always deemed valuable and very important. Early developers of our Capital city considered flat land and closeness to the coast when building the city, for obvious reasons. However, the not so obvious downside to the flat land is its geographical location. Our city was built on a flood plain, when it rains it floods (not always but very often). Is it inevitable or are we also to blame for this flooding? Our drainage systems are capable of channeling flood water out of the city into the gulf of Paria, but, the drains aren't used for drainage. Instead we use our drains as dumps, which lead to filling of drains when it rains, which eventually overflow. The City Corporation and residents or visitors of the city have not recognized that they are the cause of flooding. Our inefficient use of drainage systems in the city is one of great concern.

                According to the World Bank report written by the World Bank  on coastal city flooding, low lying cities such as Port of Spain could face increased financial risk with increased sea level rise. The link below (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/photos/Port-of-Spain-Flooding-105355433.html?gallery=y) takes you to a picture of flooding in the city, taken by a Newsday photographer. You can clearly see a ‘bowl like’ gathering of water going into the city.  

Reference

The World Bank. 2013. Which Coastal Cities Are at Highest Risk of Damaging Floods? New Study Crunches the Numbers. http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/08/19/coastal-cities-at-highest-risk-floods (accessed April 6th, 2014)