Each year, many communities across the island are severely affected by flood waters. The causative factors are both man-made and natural factors. In a series of articles, The Gleaner'sinvestigative reporter Mark Titus takes an in-depth look at flood-prone Jamaica.
WITH ALMOST two months since the June 1 start of the 2008 hurricane season, Mayor of St Ann's Bay, Councillor Ivan Anderson, says preparatory work for the season is yet to begin.
"We are not ready," was the blunt response from the parish council chairman in an interview with The Sunday Gleaner. "If a disaster of any sort is to strike today, we will not be ready.
"We have been using the council's monthly allocation to do what we can, but much more needs to be done for us to be at a satisfactory level," he admits.
Flooding has been a perennial problem in the parish as early as one can remember, with the most recent incident occurring in April of this year, when overnight showers lashed sections of the parish, creating piles of mud and crippling commercial activity in Ocho Rios. The rainfall also affected several surrounding communities, leaving more than 50 households to battle flood waters.
Not only is the parish "not ready" to withstand the rigours of a storm, but Anderson is also of the view that there can be a reoccurrence of the Ocho Rios disaster.
Serious engineering work
"It can happen again, and it will, if some serious engineering work is not done," Anderson said emphatically. "The powers that be must find a way to properly rehabilitate the Fern Gully road surface for it to withstand pressure such as this," the mayor says.
Concurring with the mayor, communications manager at the Ministry of Transport and Works, Reginald Allen, tells The Sunday Gleaner that the ministry is "tying in various studies" that have been done on the Fern Gully area over the years to come up with the most sustainable solution for the popular thoroughfare.
"Sustainable work is needed for the area, and we are taking a meticulous approach in the studies being carried out, because the ministry is determined that the problem must be tackled at the root," says Allen.
Allen also reveals that serious consideration is being given for concrete to be used to construct the road surface; but the overall expenditure, he says, is yet to be determined.
More than 60 communities have been identified as being prone to flooding. These have been the target of an ongoing public-education programme, which includes simulation exercises in schools.
Still, Alvin Clarke, who has been the parish's disaster coordinator for more than a decade, says it will take more than the habitual drain cleaning to counter the flood waters, should there be torrential rains.
"Drain cleaning is very important, because under normal circumstances, it prevents flooding, but where there is excessive rainfall, we will have problems, because the carrying capacity of these drains is not big enough to contain the flood waters which normally come with a high proportion of debris," he says.
This predicament, Clarke argues, is created by the numerous development projects taking place throughout the parish, including informal settlements, especially in the vicinity of Ocho Rios, St Ann's Bay, Discovery Bay and Runaway Bay.
"We need to take a look at the settlement pattern in St Ann, because this has been a major contributor to the problem, as most flood-prone areas in the parish are occupied by informal settlements, and have resulted in natural waterways and gullies being blocked," he says.
With more than 15 major hotels in St Ann, the local disaster team and the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) have collaborated to form an emergency-management group. Stakeholders have been placed in clusters and steps are now being taken for an official emergency-management system to be established.
Flood-response programme
The farming village of Pedro River, which is located in the hills of the parish, is also plagued by high waters, reaching heights of some 20 - 30 feet in a matter of minutes during the rainy season, covering homes and properties and destroying livestock.
The villagers have, however, developed a relationship with the parish disaster group and have since conducted a study of the area, spearheaded by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM). They have established a flood-response programme which has reportedly been going well. Most of the residents have since vacated the affected area, choosing to live elsewhere in the community.
Another frequently flooded community is the town of Cave Valley. Residents are frustrated as they do not see a solution to the long-standing problem, which has been affecting them since the 1940s.
The Sunday Gleaner visited the constabulary station which stands on the hillside overlooking the township. According to the police corporal on duty, flooding occurs when there is persistent rainfall in the hills of neighbouring Manchester, which causes the waters of the Cave River and an unnamed tributary to dump all their contents into the town, covering all the buildings in the town centre and its environs.
There is no flooding, if there are days of rainfall in Cave Valley itself, the policeman asserts, but as soon as there are heavy showers in the hills the town, which is located near the border of Clarendon and Man-chester, there is trouble. He points to sink holes in the area which are often blocked by debris.
Victor 'Son' Jarrette sat on his verandah in a posture that defied being 89 years old. A respected senior citizen in the community, he has been through all the disasters that have affected the area since 1940. He says the authorities are not trying hard enough.
"They (authorities) need to use their know-how to come up with a solution for this everlasting problem. It is hard for me to explain how frightening this can get; you have to be here.
"When you get the warning, you just have to prepare to run to higher ground, because there is very little you can do when it comes," he relates.
No feasible solution
Steven Shaw, communications manager at the National Works Agency (NWA), says that the very fact that the town is located in a valley explains why there has not been a feasible solution to the flooding problem.
"I don't know if there is more that can be done at this point, because the name Cave Valley alone will tell you that what has been happening over the years is what normally happens in a valley during rainfall."
However, Ronald Jackson, director general of the ODPEM, believes that all is not lost and that some of these problems might be man-made.
"This is a complex system of underground drainage that goes through the area, so we need to look at what is happening in other areas of the watershed that might be contributing to the problem in Cave Valley."
He points to the growth of vegetation, trash in the sink holes, or the concrete construction of a structure in the vicinity as possible reasons for the complications. His advice is that citizens must ensure that the sink holes remain clear and that every member of the community is aware of what to do in the eventuality of a disaster.
"Don't abandon the community. Let us see what mechanism we can put in place to mitigate the possibilities of such an event, and work together to confront the problem," states Jackson.
Moneague's history of flooding
The quiet town of Moneague sits in a limestone basin, and has been affected by flooding from as early as 1810. This was followed by the deluge of 1934 when the Moneague Lake, which is formed in the bottom of the bowl, overflowed its banks and remained for almost three months, as water continued to seep into the basin from underground.
This again occurred in the second month of the 2005 hurricane season after storm-surge winds and heavy precipitation lashed the island.
This forced residents in Clapham, Swamp, Foreman's Hill and Collin's Park to evacuate their homes, as flood waters took over more than 300 acres of land, with a depth of about 80 feet in some parts.
Boats and rafts became the popular means of transportation from one side of the lake to the other, as community members tried to continue with their lives. Health concerns forced the authorities to prohibit use of the water, but this was ignored. Word of this phenomenon spreadfar and wide, resulting in tourist and locals converging on the district to get a first-hand view. As in 1934, when the waters receded almost a year later, residents returned to occupy this unofficial disaster area.
One home that was reportedly submerged during the ordeal is now occupied by 43-year-old Bert Samuels and his family. "Yes, I would be lying if I said that we don't experience nervous moments when there is a heavy downpour, but we have no alternative; the opportunities are limited, we have nowhere to go." he tells The Sunday Gleaner.
