FLOOD FEARS

With the start to the Atlantic hurricane season less than 24 hours away, farmers and householders in New Haven, St Andrew, are fearing the worst should another tropical storm sweep the island.

It’s a painful refrain for the residents, who have for years contended with the threat from the Duhaney River, an unwelcome visitor that breaches its banks and spills into their homes.

The forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) offers another grim outlook of a seventh consecutive year of above-average storm activity.

The NOAA predicted that 14 to 21 named storms could emerge during the season, which runs from June 1 to November 30. As many as 10 could become hurricanes, kicking up winds of at least 74mph, with up to six churning speeds of 111mph or higher.

Speaking with The Gleaner on Monday, some residents recalled how flood protests two years ago triggered action, with Kingston Mayor Delroy Williams and officials of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation intervening. The results: repaired roads, cleaning of the river, and the cutting of trenches.

But a section of the Duhaney River is now choked with hundreds of plastic bottles and overgrown vegetation, preventing a free flow of water. The residents said it’s only a matter of time before the raging river will test their mettle again.

Among those most concerned is Winston Hennie, a 34-year-old pig farmer whose animals are housed along the banks of the river.

Praedial larceny costs farmers an estimated $6 billion annually, but that’s not a concern for Hennie. His sole source of worry is rain.

“That’s the only problem. People might say migrate and go elsewhere, but mi can’t lef my community, because mi nuh have no thief to contend with. The only issue is flooding,” Hennie told The Gleaner during a tour of his farm on Monday.

He said he lost many pigs during the last major flooding the community experienced. And he has had to release his pigs into nearby areas with thorny bushes for them to survive.

“If down there so nuh clean back, it’s going to be a major flooding the next time it floods,” he said, pointing to the clogged river.

“Stop clean the small gully. There so a di main, main concern right now,” he said.

His uncle, 72-year-old Arrousia Gonzales, has raised concern about the maintenance of the river by government authorities and the age-old problems of pollution and clogged waterways.

The old sage has been forced to cobble together a makeshift raft, on which he sets sail and cleans a section of the river behind his settlement. But he knows well that his efforts are not enough to prevent the looming hazard of another deluge.

“The river wah clean go straight to sea and there would be no flooding. Dem need fi clean behind the old sugar house near to Cremo factory,” Gonzales said.

“We are fretting right now with the hurricane season coming.”

Another resident and shopkeeper in a flood-prone section of the community told The Gleaner that flooding started from April 26 when they had rain.

The woman, who requested that her name not be published, has almost become immune to living on the edge having resided in the flood zone of New Haven for 19 years.

Cynicism about transformational state support is deep in New Haven, with the shopkeeper saying she has a home-made boat ready for evacuation.

“As rain dew, mi flood out,” she said yesterday.

“... It come in like nothing to me. Mi just don’t want drown this time,” she said.

Another resident, who was a previous flood victim, also expressed resignation to the prospect that the hurricane season could upend lives and livelihoods.

And she said she has little faith in intervention from G. Anthony Hylton, the member of parliament for St Andrew Western.

“It’s just terrible, bad. As rain fall, it flood,” she said.

“Since the mayor come, him did do a great job. Him check on we nuff. Him fix round there so, not here so, and the water run-off quick now, too.”

But Hylton defended his stewardship of the community, saying he continues to lobby the National Works Agency – and the Government, more broadly – for action.

He appealed on Monday for the authorities allocate funding to break the cycle of flooding.

“Specifically, the authorities understand that unless the Duhaney River is dredged, the siltation in the river will continue to cause further flooding,” Hylton said.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com