GOVERNMENTS like to take surface-level steps to address flooding. But few go far enough to tackle root causes.

The rainy season has begun, and, as in 2010, the new administration of Kamla Persad-Bissessar has risen to the occasion.

In response to flooding nationwide, officials have strapped on boots and hit the ground. Ravi Ratiram, Jearlean John and Khadijah Ameen were among those in the field in Aranguez on May 18. These ministers - responsible for agriculture, works and local government - should be applauded.

Within 12 hours, equipment was dispatched to clear debris. A minister promised to look afresh at compensation schemes for farmers. A total of 114 watercourse-clearing projects were earmarked.

But these activities, essential as they are, are just modest strides.

Clearing and maintaining drains, combating littering, building ponds with pumps and maintaining them, commissioning studies and sourcing international funding - there is a way in which the dogged focus on all of this by successive administrations has resulted in a myopic approach.

The central issue of land-use regulation has fallen by the wayside.

And, despite one or two equivocating references here and there in manifesto documents, we heard very little on the 2025 general election hustings about the pre-eminent existential crisis of our time: climate change.

The country's immediate flooding problem must be reckoned with. But that process needs a deeper response.

The problem does not disappear when the waters subside and when the dry season comes. The factors involved demand a far wider timeframe of planning, policymaking, resource allocation and action.

It is not just a matter of how much money local government corporations are getting annually to clear drains, and which corporations are getting more than others.

It is a question of how the central government is responding to the rapid pace of urban development, unco-ordinated land usage, resultant changes to runoff dynamics and subterranean flows and the breakdown of centuries-old infrastructure networks.

It is not just a matter of how farmers should be compensated, how much they should get and how long the process should take.

It is about the fact that flooding affects not only agricultural land but also urban spaces. The costs are, thus, far-ranging and multifaceted. Farmers lose crops. Businesses lose productive hours. Taxis stop. Schools are disrupted. The rural-urban divide has been rendered moot. Diego Martin and Trincity were this week as much flashpoints as Aranguez and St Helena.

And it is certainly not just a matter of playing a political blame game.

It is about the need to mitigate the likelihood of flooding in an era when ordinary rainfall is deadly and devastating.

Boots were on the ground this week. That's good. But it's just a start.

Rural Development and Local Government Minister Khadijah Ameen looks out from the cabin of an excavator during the launch of her ministry's flood mitigation programme on May 13. Next to her are Chaguanas Mayor Faai