With the Atlantic hurricane season officially starting next Thursday, June 1, the flooding earlier this week at Church Street, Speightstown, St Peter has left us to yet again reflect on Barbados’ state of readiness for a cyclone.
On Monday, the island was drenched throughout the day, with the northern parishes mostly impacted. St Peter recorded about 60 millimetres of rain during the course of the morning, leading to flooding in some communities.
When it comes to natural disasters, there is only so much preparation that can be done. However, clogged drains, overhanging tree branches, and illegal dumping in gullies that stops the natural flow of drainage are among the issues that can be and should be dealt with to mitigate the extent of flooding and other storm damage.
That is why the situation in Speightstown is so frustrating for residents and business owners there. For decades, Speightstown, much like Holetown, flooded within minutes of a downpour.
On Monday, photos made the rounds on social media of stalled vehicles in the midst of flood waters.
“The gutters aren’t getting cleared,” said one business owner. “If you feel it is bad now, wait until the [hurricane] season starts and the rain starts to come down to Speightstown from Indian Ground and Diamond Corner.”
And while the Chief Technical Officer in the Ministry of Transport and Works Philip Tudor said that flooding is “an act of nature which happens all over the world”, what occurred Monday could have been prevented.
The ministry official reported that culverts which would facilitate the runoff of rainwater were blocked.
Tudor explained: “The sea came in, deposited the sand in the culverts, blocking them so that the water could not get from the road out to the sea. So when you have a combination of high tide as well as high rainfall, the storm waters can’t get off the road into the sea.”
He further admitted that the sand hadn’t been cleared. He said that was something the ministry would usually start in early June.
The good news is that this year’s hurricane season is expected to be less active than in recent years, resulting in this year’s overall forecast for a near-normal season.
It was reported that overall, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts that 12 to 17 named tropical storms will develop in the region, which includes the Atlantic, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.
While these predictions are often close to accurate, we have seen some strange weather patterns in recent times which indicate that we cannot let our guard down.
The events of Monday in Speightstown should cause us to ponder on our readiness. Both on a national and personal level, we must all take stock. If days of ash have thrown us into such a tailspin, imagine what might be if we were to be faced with a direct hit from a cyclone.
However we swing it, 17 seems like a daunting number given all that we have endured in recent times. We are still trying to get our economy on good footing while many households cry out about the high cost of living.
Sadly, the most vulnerable Barbadian households are the ones who feel the brunt when natural disasters hit. That is why we believe it will be so much more challenging for some to “prepare for the hurricane season”.
Hurricane preparedness calls for adjustments to some properties, or spending a bit more at the supermarket on canned and dry foods, first aid items, bottled water, lanterns, and radio, for example.
This is why we depend on the Government agencies tasked with clearing roads, cleaning drains and the like to do their part. It is unfortunate that when this is not attended to, residents and business owners are left to mop up the mess, literally and figuratively.
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