NWA blamed for Riley River overflow

WESTERN BUREAU:

RESIDENTS AND business operators in the Hanover capital of Lucea are placing blame on the National Works Agency (NWA) for its lack of action and foresight, which they say is the main factor causing the Riley River to overflow its banks on Tuesday evening, leading to the eastern end of the town being flooded and impassable for hours.

Hundreds of persons found themselves stuck in Lucea, while a similar number could not enter or pass through the town following a short period of heavy rains as the Riley River overflowed its banks, flooding an area known as ‘Keep Left’ and sections of Main Street, Lucea, causing a standstill in traffic and pedestrian movement for over four hours.

The accusations against the NWA came against the background of the build-up of bamboo in the Riley River, in the vicinity of the Riley Bridge for weeks, with that agency making no attempt to remove them from the river.

“It is not that they did not see the bamboo, it was reported to them by several persons. They came and looked at it, and nothing was done,” one resident told The Gleaner, while waiting in traffic for hours to get home on Tuesday night.

When contacted, Disaster Preparedness Coordinator in Hanover, Kenisha Stennett-Dunbar, noted that the amount of bamboo that was in the river in the vicinity of the bridge could have been a major contributing factor to the flooding.

“Persons are actually trapped at ‘Keep Left’, and nobody can move. I have not heard to the extent of how far in town the water has gone, but I know for a fact that the entire area at ‘Keep Left’ is flooded, no motor vehicular or pedestrian traffic can move across the Riley Bridge,” she stated.

Stennett-Dunbar told The Gleaner that she had a lengthy discussion with the NWA parish representatives recently about the amount of bamboo that was blocking the flow of the river under the Riley Bridge, but the bamboos were not removed.

Following complaints from business owners along main street Lucea in February, about bamboo blocking the flow of the river, The Gleaner had contacted the NWA about its plans to remove the bamboo and was sent a one-sentence statement by that agency.

“The NWA is aware of the situation at the Riley River and will, in short order, be taking the necessary steps to have the situation remedied,” the statement read.

One business owner had told The Gleaner in February that he is taking some amount of precaution, in expectation of flooding, which he thinks will happen with the onset of the slightest amount of rainfall, adding that his business is not insured.

It is not yet known what level of damage was done to businesses because of the flooding.

Efforts to contact the NWA personnel in the parish during the flooding proved futile.

bryan.miller@gleanerjm.com