.jpg)
.jpg)
.png)
Another section of Catherine Hall in St. James is counting the cost of flooding just one week after their neighbours were forced from their homes by rising water.
This time the frustration is even deeper.
"None of us have slept. We have been out since 5 o'clock yesterday. I can't buy anything put inside my house because it's going to be flooded again and no one cares," said resident Aneika Atkinson.
Eight days is all the time another section of Almond Way, Catherine Hall got before they were at the mercy of flood waters again. Just over a week ago water invaded the homes of one section of the community.
On Wednesday night, Ryan Walker and others were in the sequel.
"Water came straight up on my step, right up on my step and it was only simple rain. It was only just likkle dew. Anuh no heavy rain a fall, so it shouldn't be like that. So what happen if one big storm come?" he questioned.
It was only last Tuesday that other residents mounted roadblocks in near MegaMart after a two-day downpour inundated their homes. They blamed work to expand the Catherine Hall main road for the persistent flooding.
It is understood that a drain used to channel flood waters away from the housing scheme was completely sealed by construction teams.
For Ms. Atkinson, the frustration became too much on Wednesday night, knowing that after she cleaned last week she could be doing it all over again.
"The rain stopped at 5 o'clock and the water didn't subside until 12:45 this morning. None of us have slept. We have been
out since 5 o'clock yesterday. This is an exit and it has been condemned. The wall has been built and there is no drainage," she said, noting that even a single rain cloud feels like a threat of further flooding.
For Tasha Clarke and others, there is little comfort in having to make the same appeals just two days later.
"And it's pure promises, promises, promises. We traumatised. We can't take it no more. When I'm supposed to go to work I have to call out; the two side is block. Sometime we have to walk on the top of the roof. We traumatised. We can't take it no more. When the rain fall, we can't sleep. We stressed," she bemoaned.
Mr. Walker added that they are yet to hear word from any official about the way forward.
Marlene Malahoo Forte, Member of Parliament for St. James West Central, said despite persistent drain cleaning, it is still not enough to alleviate the problem.
"Every day it rains, Catherine Hall floods and the people are nervous. The councillor has been doing the work through the St. James Municipal Corporation. It is still not enough to alleviate the problem. And the drains are not connecting with those being constructed under the Perimeter Road project. So I really am just asking that the work in progress move a little faster because the situation is dire," she pleaded.
comments powered by Disqus
All feeds
