Mount Salem councillor wants improved drainage in Tucker to curtail flooding
Published:Friday | November 15, 2024 | 12:06 AMRochelle Clayton/Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
Kerry Thomas, councillor for the Mount Salem Division in St James, is urging the National Works Agency (NWA) to improve the drainage infrastructure along the Tucker main road in light of recent flooding associated with heavy rainfall.
“As climate change continues to affect us, and as we continue to develop, you will realise that we also need major infrastructure, in terms of proper drainage, along this corridor to stop the flooding and endangerment of people’s lives because it’s only going to get worse based on the development and the level of water that is coming down here,” he told The Gleaner during a visit to Tucker on Wednesday.
Thomas, an engineer by profession, was referencing last Sunday’s incident where water inundated the main thoroughfare that connects several residential communities to Montego Bay. While pointing to the multiple housing developments in the area, Thomas said the Tucker main road falls victim to increased runoff whenever it rains. At the same time, he said that the area’s drainage infrastructure cannot hold the high volumes of water from nearby communities.
A natural gully also runs along the Tucker main road and carries water from communities as far as John’s Hall. However, Thomas explained that it, too, poses a flooding risk in the Tucker area.
“This natural water course has not been developed. It’s narrow, and the road is not much higher in some places, so as a result of that, when you have heavy rain and all the water collects and starts to run along here, it floods the road at various sections along the road, which creates a very dangerous situation.”
Thomas further stressed the importance of improving the drainage infrastructure along the main thoroughfare as more residential communities are developed in the surrounding areas. Additionally, with multiple schools in the area, Thomas called for the agency’s immediate intervention. He also pointed to last year’s incident where three Good Samaritans saved two young boys who were being swept away by floodwaters.
The Tucker main road was repaired in 2021, but potholes have continued to plague the thoroughfare, increasing traffic in the area. Thomas, suspects, however, that the improper drainage infrastructure is playing a role in the ordeal.
“If you look at Tucker Road, which was repaired in 2021 by the National Works Agency, and look at the condition at about five different sections, the road has eroded to nothing. The water that is coming on the road is helping to deteriorate the road significantly, so even though we spent hundreds of millions of dollars on this road just three years ago, the road has gone, creating mayhem in traffic.”
Stephen Shaw, the NWA’s manager of communication and customer services, told The Gleaner that plans are afoot to partner with Marlene Malahoo-Forte, member of parliament for St James West Central, to clean the drains along the Tucker main road under the annual mitigation and clean-up programme. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced that $22 million would be available to each of the 63 constituencies under this programme.
“The intention is for the parish team to liaise with the member of parliament to see to what extent we can clean some of those drains in the space that we believe are the sources of the flooding in that area. As you know, the prime minister did [make an announcement] in Parliament yesterday as it relates to the upcoming programme that includes drain cleaning. So hopefully, we will be able to get something done under that particular programme,” Shaw said on Wednesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, pointing to a culvert along Tucker Road in the vicinity of the Irwin turnoff, where Sunday’s flooding occurred, Thomas suggested that the agency install a larger drainage system.
“Across that road is probably about a 12-inch culvert or a six-inch culvert. We requested that they change and upgrade that culvert and build proper outfalls, which was not done, so as a result, the drain becomes easily inundated with water and floods the road in that area,” said Thomas.
However, Shaw told The Gleaner that the agency does not have the resources to act on Thomas’s recommendation at this time.
“We can only do [what] we are in a position to do, and so if it requires some cleaning, cleaning we will do,” said Shaw.
“And at the same time to see where we can source additional funds to, maybe, replace drains in the space, but I know that we have done drainage improvement along that corridor as part of the overall road-improvement efforts in the space. We have [also] had multiple housing developments in this space, and whenever we have these developments. they tend to cause increased runoff in nearby areas, so this could be a result of the number of houses that have gone up in and around the particular road in the last five years.”