Girls’ Town residents dread onset of hurricane season

Residents of Girls’ Town in Hayes, Clarendon, are apprehensive as they face the onset of another hurricane season.

A garage operator who gave his name only as Maurice, said whenever it rains heavily, the large volume of water that flows through his yard causes the cars at his business establishment to “float around”.

“When rain fall heavy, car float in yah. Water pile up high. The new rain season is here and we might get a hurricane; we don’t know what to expect. When the rain start you have to move from here,” he said.

Maurice told The Gleaner that the problem has been going on for 30 years and he doubts anything can be done about it because Girls’ Town is located on a “flat land”.

LAST SERIOUS FLOOD

Councillor for the Hayes division, Scean Barnswell, said the last serious flooding that affected the area was in 2019 when five homes were flooded out and persons lost personal effects.

“The drains that run parallel to the homes should be maintained by the National Works Agency (NWA) and from memory, the last time that drain was cleaned was in 2012. Since then, nothing has happened to the drain as it relates to maintenance and the area presently is blocked with vegetation,” Barnswell said, expressing concern that if another heavy downpour should occur, residents will be affected once more.

“I am making this appeal to the member of parliament (Pearnel Charles Jr), who would have or should have included this area in his drain-cleaning programme that will be submitted to the NWA, for it to get priority attention,” he said.

When The Gleaner contacted Stephen Shaw, communications manager for the NWA, he said he was not aware of the issue, but promised to check on it and give a response.

However, up to press time, none was given.