Westmoreland residents brace for hurricane season
Published:Saturday | June 4, 2022 | 12:09 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
OUTSIDE OF groceries and other essential items, residents of the Three Miles River and Paul Island communities in Westmoreland say there is nothing that they can do to militate against being flooded out of their homes during periods of heavy rainfall. And having suffered for more than six decades, they have little faith that any plans by the authorities will do much to ease their plight, even as they cry out for action.
People living in other flood-prone communities, such as George’s Plain, Strathbogie, Smithfield and Amity, have also resigned themselves to their fate of seeking refuge at designated emergency shelters or with friends and relatives elsewhere when a storm threatens.
Above-average activity has been forecast for the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 until November 30.
“There is no preparation that we can make to prevent us from flooding out when it rains. Nothing. We just have to keep ourselves safe and then clean up after the water runs off,” 62-year-old Grace Campbell-Hall told The Gleaner.
“I was born here in 1960 and grew up on the experiences of the countless number of times we have been flooded out,” the Three Miles River resident explained. “My mother was born here, too, so it is from generation to generation this thing has been happening.”
Accordingly, she said when a storm or hurricane threatens, it’s a familiar drill as residents place their furniture on building blocks to minimise flood damage.
“Even if it is an ordinary shower of rain, we are flooded out where we keep losing our things. But what to do? We just have to count our losses and move on,” said Campbell-Hall.
Fifty-five-year-old Glasford Woolery agreed that the community has long adapted their preparations for the hurricane season.
“The only ‘preparation’ we can do is after the flood. That is to clean up the mess created from the floodwaters. We can’t do anything before,” Woolery told The Gleaner while standing on a makeshift bridge, which gives access across a river that runs through the community.
“It not going to make any sense until the garbage and grass are cleaned out of the river and the authorities build up walls to keep the river from overflowing,” he said.
Boysie Perrin, who has lived in the community for over two decades, said, “If the authorities could use dynamites and blast the rocks, and give more depth to the river, it could help to reduce the impact on our homes.”
The floodwaters, Perrin said, come from the hills – as far up as Darliston – down through Whithorn, Petersfield and into the Three Miles River community.
Problem won’t be eliminated any time soon
While mitigation work is scheduled to take place in the coming weeks, Rudolph Uter, councillor of the Frome Division, admitted that the problem won’t be eliminated any time soon. The situation, he said, requires an in-depth study by the National Works Agency.
“We have a programme to do some drain-cleaning in the Three Miles River area of the division. We will also be seeking the assistance of Pan Caribbean, the operators of the Frome Sugar Factory,” Uter said on Thursday.
Over in Paul Island, where the Gater River runs through the community, residents there also believed regular cleaning and dredging of the river could prevent flooding.
“When the water is trapped in the river by debris, it overflows its banks into the streets and in people’s homes and shops, forcing us to use small, canoe-type boats to get people from their flooded homes to higher ground,” said a young male resident, who did not wish to be identified. “I believe if more effort is made to clean the river properly, it will ease the likelihood of the yearly flooding we are experiencing.”
Ian Myles, councillor for the Little London Division in the municipality, said that drain-cleaning exercises are in train for Paul Island, including the Gater River and the two other main drains in the community.
“It will be a comprehensive drain-cleaning programme starting next week, and based on the magnitude of the problems there, approximately $750,000 will be spent cleaning the area so that the stormwater can run off quickly,” Myles said.