Ongoing drainage works by irrigation commission limit flooding in sections of St Elizabeth
Published:Monday | January 12, 2026 | 9:14 PM
The National Irrigation Commission Limited (NIC) says ongoing drainage works in sections of Central and South St Elizabeth helped to limit flooding during the passage of Hurricane Melissa on October 28 last year.
Director of Engineering and Technical Services at the NIC, Rohan Stewart, said during a recent JIS Think Tank that some areas that are traditionally prone to flooding were not significantly impacted due to sustained drainage interventions.
“Areas like Middle Quarters and Santa Cruz would normally be flooded, but because of the work that we have been doing, those areas were not significantly impacted, although there is still water in the area,” Stewart said.
He noted that NIC continues to carry out drainage operations in the Central East Bay area, where critical equipment has been deployed to manage water flows.
“We have three pieces of equipment that are there. Two of them are operational now, because the area that they were working in was not flooded,” he explained.
One piece of drainage equipment remains inaccessible due to conditions on the ground; however, Mr. Stewart said the situation has not severely disrupted operations.
In addition to effective drainage management, the NIC reported that its overall infrastructure sustained minimal damage during the hurricane.
He attributed the limited impact to the resilience built into NIC’s systems and facilities.
“Our systems have been developed and built with resilience in place. The major water production facilities were not impacted, because of the resilience that we had,” he continued.
Stewart further explained that buildings and equipment are designed to withstand severe weather, and that systems are placed in standby mode ahead of hurricanes to protect electrical and mechanical components.
“We would have turned off the power to the system, so the electrical and mechanical systems, pumps and motors, and motor control centres would not have been affected by the hurricane,” he said.
- JIS News
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