The Tribune

By PAVEL BAILEY

PUBLIC Works Minister Alfred Sears said officials are addressing flooding issues created over the weekend by heavy rainfall, especially in view of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season which will soon open.

After several areas of Western New Providence, including Coral Harbour, Cable Beach and Carmichael West, experienced record levels of rainfall, concerned citizens wanted to know what government is doing to address the issue.

Outside the House of Assembly yesterday, Mr Sears said his ministry had commenced drainage clearing earlier this year.

“Because we started the drainage clearing earlier this year, we’ve had in many of the areas where there was a concentration of rainwater the dissipation was quicker,” the minister said yesterday. “However, Nassau is not a grand city and therefore in the past we’ve had the construction of homes and commercial businesses in our sensitive areas, in flood plains and valleys.”

Mr Sears also noted how his ministry has already designed short and medium-term plans for Pinewood Gardens in relation to drainage, adding that he worked with the community to develop these plans.

“We’ve had meetings with the community in Pinewood and we will continue those meetings so that the residents will be aware of what we are doing.

“The solutions include the installation of 600ft wells, which is twice the depth of many of the existing wells as well as the installation of new technologies that will be underground.”

In addressing other areas heavily affected by the weekend flooding, Mr Sears pointed out that these areas were built in low-lying areas highly susceptible to flooding.

Despite this, he wanted to assure the public that his ministry will pursue an aggressive campaign to fix the drainage systems in those flood prone zones.

“The team have also designed a solution for the East Bay Street area as well as some of the other areas like Pinewood, which are in the valley between ridges as well as some of the coastal areas such as South Beach, where you have the phenomenon of rising sea levels.

“And therefore, those areas tend to be susceptible to flooding.

“But the bottom line is that a very aggressive maintenance of clearing of drainage as well as drilling additional wells and introducing new technology that will help to alleviate the problems. But it’s an ongoing process and we will be holding a press conference, having community consultation so that we can track and monitor the progress being made in that regard.”

He further advised residents of Killarney that had been severely affected by flooding, due to much of the area being built on reclaimed land from lakes to call 601-2235 or 457-3188 for assistance if they are still experiencing extreme flooding.