For the third straight day Barbados recorded heavy rainfall in districts across the island, causing a flood warning to be extended until six o’clock this morning.
Yesterday evening, the Meteorological Office announced that there had been “no significant improvement in the unsettled conditions presently affecting the island”, while some pockets of moderate to heavy showers were expected between last night and today.
For most of yesterday the central areas and the northern parishes were hit by heavy rains, with some residents trapped in their homes.
The rains, a result of unsettled conditions associated with a broad area of low pressure over the Eastern Caribbean, had initially seen the Met Office advising of a flood warning until 6 p.m. yesterday.
Roving Response Team members answered several calls,but coordinator Denis Lashley said there was only slight damage to a few cars and homes.
Lashley noted the road at Waterford Bottom had to be closed because of 18-inch surface water, and that there was also a slight current that could have proved dangerous to road users.
He said calls had also been received from Warrens, Bush Hall and Skeete’s Road in St Michael and Lakes, St Andrew. Earlier in the day, River Road became impassable after water from the canal rose to high levels.Strong current
“At Lakes, St Andrew, the two bridges were underwater; so we had to make some detours there because again the water there was rushing and had a very strong current like that in The Belle. So we didn’t want another situation like the one last Friday,” Lashley said.
After the rain subsided, residents at Lakes came out in true community spirit to clear the road of debris.
One resident said the rains started shortly before 6 a.m. “and it poured down for quite a while but after it abated we went out; we were shocked to see the amount of water”.
“That water was more than five feet high. The last time we had that kind of water in this area was in 1970 and then again in the 1980s,” he said.
Meanwhile, over in Bush Hall, the technical team at the National Housing Corporation was called into action after water forced residents to stay indoors.
Both Minister of Housing Michael Lashley and parliamentary representative for the area Steve Blackett went to the scene and tried to reassure residents that efforts would be made to prevent a recurrence.
Blackett said he and Lashley had agreed that remedial work would be done in the area which was once a “pond bottom”.
He said that some paving would be done to harden the surface in the area where residents parked their cars. (CT)
