Heavy downpours and flooding in vulnerable parts of Samoa has taken its toll on local businesses.

Today, business owners area pleading with the Government to assist them.

Mika Brown, of City Central Tax Stand, said that they had to close their services due to flooding.

“This week has been a problem for the taxi service because it has been raining endlessly,” he said.

He added that because of the heavy rain, it led to flooding where the taxi service is located.

“The water was up to my knees and it led to us closing our taxi services because there was no place for the cars to park.

“Some of our customers kept calling but we had to apologise because there were no taxis and because we are located in the middle of town it was easier to get passengers but with the flooding not many people would use our services.”

Mr. Brown added that flooding experienced in town is not new.

“Every time there is heavy rainfall we always experience flooding, we hope the Government will look into fixing the problem.

“We are not aware of the reason behind what’s causing the flooding but with more flooding some of the families of some taxi drivers will not have any form of income.

“It is true that we cannot control the weather and by that even if it rains it may be a blessing to those who have no water but to others it is a curse.”

Another local shop owner at Fugalei voiced his concerns about the flooding problem.

Paulo Semisi told the Samoa Observer that they do not have a lot of customers when it floods.

“We don’t get a lot of customers when there is so much flooding water because parents would like to keep everyone safe by not having any one walk in the rain.

“We end up closing our shop when no one wants to buys anything but the safety concern is around flooding.”

Samoa has been experiencing bad weather conditions such as heavy rainfall and since the beginning of the week which  

Other taxi services such as City Cab located in Apia next to Lucky Foodtown also closed its services due to flooding.

The Samoa Meteorological Office has warned members of the public that the country will continue to experience bad weather conditions throughout this week due to an active cloudband remaining over the country.

There is a Tropical Disturbance 07F located to the West of Wallis and Futuna which has a low moderate potential to develop into a Tropical Cyclone within the next 24hours.

And there is an expected persistent of strong and damaging winds torrential rain and damaging heavy swells.

Potential impacts include: heavy downpours with poor visibility, strong and gusty winds with flying objects, foggy and slippery roads over mountain passes and ranges, strong river outflow and landslides, pooling near roadsides and waterways.