Saying that over the last ten years, the then PNM government had focused more on "buzzwords" than actual work, Rural Development and Local Government Minister Khadijah Ameen said the new government has inherited a vastly neglected network of watercourses as well as crumbling drainage infrastructure.

Speaking at the post-cabinet press conference on Thursday May 15, Ameen said her ministry launched its flood mitigation exercise on Wednesday, and had hit the ground running a day after with work beginning on the cleaning, dredhing and clearing of watercourses throughout the country.

"What you are seeing is a co-ordinated, multi-agency initiative aimed at strengthening resilience to flooding in the most vulnerable communities."