Solving the flooding problem

I have tried on many occasions beginning as far back as 1971 to explain to the authorities concerned the reasons why this condition exists during the rainy season every year and the simple and elementary remedies to the problem.

One does not have to be a wizard in the field of hydraulic engineering to determine the cause and provide a simple solution to the problem, which has so far defied all the highly qualified engineers in the Ministry of Works.

I will nevertheless try once to explain the cause of the problem in the simplest terms possible that even a grade one student should be able to understand along with the only and very simple solution.

It must be clearly understood that the Uriah Butler Highway is in effect the wall of an immense dam that except for a few totally inadequate outlets, at distant intervals restricts the free flow of water from East to West, thereby causing the level of water East of the highway to rise dramatically with heavy and prolonged rainfall.

To put it in even simpler terms, it is comparable to pouring a constant flow of water into a simple funnel faster than it can exit the spout at the bottom.

To exacerbate the problem, the main rivers and water courses are so filled with silt emanating from the denuded areas further up-stream that, the natural level of their beds has risen by as much as three metres in some areas, thereby severely reducing their capacity to convey the large volume of water to their natural destination, “the sea.”

Of course in keeping with the customary hare-brained plans and solutions that are frequently offered by government experts and I use that description loosely, they may very well suggest the replacing of all existing homes in the affected areas with “House Boats” and equip each one with a shallow draft dinghy, to enable the occupants to move about during the rainy season and resultant flooding every year.

Of course, the only possible and realistic solution to the problem is to increase the size of the outlets under the highway, increase the number of outlets and dredge the river beds especially in their lower areas and including the sea beds in the vicinity of the river mouths.

Perhaps, the simple diagnosis and remedy to the problem are too simple for the highly qualified experts in the ministry to grasp.

MARTIN KAVANAGH

La Romaine