Call for more disaster prep funding in Manchester

Mandeville, Manchester:

A trough across the Western Caribbean last week impacted flood-prone communities in Manchester, leading to intensified calls from local representatives for more funding to be allocated toward disaster preparedness.

“My understanding from the [National Works Agency] parish manager, is that all members of parliament have been given $1 million, except Northeast Manchester that has been given $2 million for drain-cleaning exercise ... My problem though is that I have seen NWA drains that will take 10 times the million to clean,” said Mayor of Mandeville Donovan Mitchell.

Addressing the Manchester Municipal Corporation meeting on Thursday, Mitchell indicated that the corporation has been maintaining the drains for which they are responsible, but all drains on the major roads fall within the remit of the National Works Agency (NWA).

Mitchell said there is one such in his division that continues to flood farms and houses and will require a backhoe to clean it.

“We have written to the prime minister’s office and I am to meet with Member of Parliament (MP) Rhoda Crawford and I will have further dialogue with the NWA persons as some areas need to be given priority.”

Among the high-risk areas for the parish are Alligator Pond, Porus and Christiana.

Dalton Brown, councillor of the Alligator Pond division, said the drains that ought to be cleaned by the NWA have not been done.

“In the lower section of the division, Sea Air, New Forest, Duff House, Alligator Pond, the roads this morning are in a bit of water because those drains are not cleaned and that is the harsh reality that we face now.”

The councillor described as grim, the situation along the main roads, particularly in Duff House where he said there was a build-up of silt following heavy rains.

Iceval Brown, councillor of the Grove Town division, stated that, with the impact in her division alone, the funding will not be enough for the Manchester south constituency.

Caved in

“In south Manchester, coming into Mandeville is like a river bed, in certain sections. A million dollar alone cannot do [the drain cleaning].”

According to Claudia Morant-Baker, councillor for the Porus division, efforts to have the NWA address some drains in need of fixing and cleaning have proved futile.

“The NWA drains are of concern. One has been partially caved in, so the water goes to a point and then it floods private property. There is another one that is totally caved in, so attention needs to be brought to those drains. Hopeton drain is repaired to a point, but the rest needs to be concreted so the water can flow. These are massive drains that run directly into people’s homes or between houses,” she said.

But Cuthbert Thomas, parish manager at the NWA, said with MPs in receipt of the funding for drain cleaning, the procedure is that each should submit a project proposal highlighting the priority areas to be addressed by the NWA.

He said that, so far, they have been in receipt of the proposal from Crawford, the MP for Manchester Central.

As it concerns other disaster preparedness efforts, Keval Lewis, parish disaster coordinator at the Manchester Municipal Corporation, said drain cleanings will continue and meetings are now being scheduled to ensure logistics plans for the 75 shelters are up to date.