Roving response teams and members of the Barbados Fire Service were called to respond yesterday as Barbadians braved the rains for the second straight day.
But whilst umbrellas were all that most people needed, residents in the south of the island fared far worse, with some having their homes flooded and requiring emergency evacuation.
The road at Garner’s Drive, Enterprise, Christ Church, was impassable as more than five feet of water caused a river-like scene, with stalled vehicles, including a BMW jeep, which was almost submerged.
Residents trapped in their homes sought the help of the rescue organisations, but even they had to seek alternative methods of removing at least one resident from her home.
The water rose so high that a jeep from the roving response team had to be towed, while one Fire Service vehicle made a hasty retreat after realising the depth of the water at Garner’s Drive.
Resident Shirley Reid, along with her son Brian, both under the watchful eye of Fire Service personnel, had to use the back entrance of her home and the help of a ladder to get over her guard wall after water flooded her home.
Reid said the area had been flooded on more than one occasion, but never to that extent.
She speculated that a well in the area had been clogged and filled “to the brim”, thereby causing the back-up of water and flooding.
“Since we’ve been living here I have never seen anything like this. The water came into my garage and then eventually it flooded the whole house. I tried to save what I could, but I had to get out of there,” she said.
Over in Church Hill, in the same parish, Margo Ashby and her husband Ansil watched as water gushed around their home and down into their backyard. The water was said to have travelled from as far as Durants Golf Course.
“Every time the rain falls, this happens. For years we have been begging the relevant authorities to get something done about this situation, but our calls seem to be falling on deaf ears,” she lamented.
Next to her, neighbour Winston Yarde also watched hopelessly as the water streamed by.
“What you’re seeing now is nothing like two hours ago. The water was about four feet high out here. We can stand in it now but before, it was raging,” he said.
Yarde said the conditions had been even worse for them on Wednesday.
Farther along the coast, at Second Avenue, Harts Gap, another virtual river faced residents, some of whom watched helplessly from their homes.
“Thank God I don’t have to go out there. If this rain continues, by nightfall we will want a boat to get us out of here,” one resident shouted. (CT)
