Development in Ladyville causes flooding

With so much rain during the last month, there has been no shortage of flood stories. The latest comes from Ladyville.

Robert Lightburn, Area Resident
?We are concern because we could see the water backing up in some areas where water never stayed before. So we are concern about what is happening, and we would like somebody with authority to come and help.?

Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting
Area residents living by mile eleven on the northern highway say they are tired of walking through water that has not only flooded their yards but a section of one of the two main roads in their neighbourhood.

Yoli Caretela, Area Resident
?But with the kids them I am just afraid of sickness. I do not want them to get sick but we have to come out when we need something. This shop is closer but the other shop is far, so we prefer to come this way.?

The flooded road has also frustrated motorists who must drive through the deep water to get onto the highway. The area has become impassable for smaller vehicles.

Robert Lightburn
?It is a good thing that there is another way around. All those people who go to work and have to come out here they have to take off their shoe and when they come from work they have to take off their shoe. Then they walk into the water. You can?t even say you come with a rubber shoe because the water is higher than a rubber shoe. It?s above your knee.?

Josephine Burns, Area Resident
?For the first time in all my seventeen years that I have been living here, I had to buy a rubber boots to put on. I did not have any need to use rubber boots–until now.?

?This is a water hole and the water always, no matter how heavy the rain comes, stays right there. But never before has the water reach this far. You can see all the black mud there that is where the water was.?

Those residents who can afford it have purchased culverts and installed them in front of their properties in an effort to keep their land dry.

Catalina Arthurs, Area resident
?The only time this use to happen is when we use to get hurricane threats. The water would rise, and after the rain would stop the water would go away.?

So what is preventing the water from running off? The residents believe a nearby land development project has blocked the drains that once allowed the water to flow freely out to the river.

Josephine Burns
?No drainage was put in place, and now our lands are flooded.?

The development in question involves thirty acres of land owned by Larry Flowers. Residents charge that he not only failed to put down culverts but actually built dams around the property that have cut off the flow of water.

Josephine Burns
?We are not against development, but it has to be done in a proper way. It is a violation because no drainage was put in place, none at all.?

Robert Lightburn
?What they did was block of the two sources of ways that the water runs out. One to the sea and one to the river. So we are concerned about what is happening and we would like somebody with authority to come and help. As it is right now the road here, if it continues like this nobody will be able to go through. I drive through it and there is a deep area now. So actually the stones are getting washed away.?

Village council vice chairman Michael Hutchinson says since they got into office in 2004 they have been trying to address the overall drainage problem especially the situation with land developers, but finding a solution has not been easy.

Michael Hutchinson, Vice Chairman, Ladyville Village Council
?Why is it that from the very first they did not put in the necessary infra-structure, so that when your work begins it does not affect your surroundings. Now our fear in the village council is suppose we get a hurricane? These wetlands use to soak up the bulk of the water and now they are getting filled up.?

Robert Lightburn
?This water has been here now for over a month. I?ve met people that it has shut down their vehicle, and now I understand that they are not even coming through it.?

When we contacted Flowers he said that on Tuesday they dug a canal to help alleviate the flooding but the residents say the channel that was created is insufficient for the amount of water collected in the area.

Josephine Burns
?We would like for the person responsible or whoever is responsible to just come and help us to get rid of this excess water. Put in drainage or do whatever is necessary. We are not asking for much.?

Michael Hutchinson
?The residents have said that yes the water is reseeding a little, but we believe that the proper infra-structure needs to be done. They need to put in the necessary culverts where they need to be in place. Then after they have done all of that and we see that the situation is getting worse or still remains, then we say well you have tried and now we have to look at something else, maybe from drains now to canal.?

Catalina Arthurs
?They just dug a little drain across the road that they built in the marsh land. When that area fills up, we will have the same problem again.?

While at the site we contacted Flowers by phone but he refused to comment saying only that we should speak to Ministry of Works Chief Engineer, Cadet Henderson. Henderson told News Five that preliminary checks in the area suggest that the development has contributed to the problem but that he is awaiting a report from his engineers who are in the process of conducting a proper study.

Michael Hutchinson
?We are calling on government and the Ministry of Works to try and come up with a solution. Not some band-aid solution but something that will last, so that we don?t have this problem again.?

Residents say around forty families are being affected.

This evening, Chief Engineer Henderson told news five that Ministry of Works personnel will widen and deepen the drain tomorrow. In related news, Henderson reports that portions of the Crooked Tree causeway are under eighteen inches of water and it is likely that by tomorrow the only road to the village may be closed. Since July first, the Crooked Tree lagoon has risen fifty-four inches.