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| (L-R) Mr Lester Blackett apprising Premier the Hon. Joseph Parry of the damage at the Nisbett Bridge on Thursday. |
CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (October 20, 2006) -- Utility workers in Nevis were working feverishly Friday to mend damaged water mains and road ways and to clear clogged waterways caused by heavy rains which pounded the island over the past 24 hours.
Director of the Nevis Disaster Management Office Mr. Lester Blackett confirmed on Friday, that near five inches of rain had fallen from 8am Thursday October 19 to 8am today, as he urged the public to exercise caution when crossing swollen waterways even though there had been no casualties reported.
A flash flood warning had been issued for St. Kitts and Nevis by the Meteorological Office Thursday but according to Mr Blackett, more rain with the possibility of some flash flooding in certain areas on the island was expected Friday, since his office was monitoring another approaching tropical wave.
He said his office had already received reports and early indications were that the island had not sustained any extensive damage.
~~Adz:Right~~"Given the amount of water I am surprised that the damage is not more significant. The major damage happened between Charlestown and Gingerland. Along the sides of the roads you had severe erosion.
You also had a major washout at Nisbett Bridge that was impassable for some time until the washed out area was refilled. It was just west of the bridge where the bridge transitioned into the road.
"We also had a blockage at Fountain Ghaut near Brick Kiln as a result of trees and debris which had been washed down and incidentally the Nisbett Bridge wash out was done partly by trees that had gotten entangled with the structure.
So all in all we did fairly well in terms of the significant amount of rain that fell.
There was obviously major disruption in the transportation network and to schools and offices but to my knowledge there were no incidents experienced by persons in Nevis and as far as I know at this time there was no structural damage," he said.
Meantime, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Communication and Works Mr Ernie Stapleton commended workers in his department for what he termed was their swift response during the passage of inclement weather.
"The Public Works Department I must commend them for their response because yesterday they were out during the rain to see some of the areas where we have some problems and this morning they were able to mobilise pretty quickly to start to deal with some of the major areas, especially past the Bath Cemetery travelling up towards the Gingerland area and I must commend the staff and the director and his team for that.
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| Workmen of the Public Works Department working feverishly to mend sections of the Island Main Road on Friday. | |
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| Heavy run off water outside the Government Information Service and the Nevis Electricity Company Ltd. offices on Thursday. | |
"In terms of the Water Department, we have some challenges. The pump lines at Zion were affected as a result of the water and the guys are at Zion right now trying to rectify the situation. We also have challenges at Camps Pump Station and they are working on that quite feverishly. I must commend them also," he said.
~~Adz:Left~~Mr Stapleton, mindful that the assessment was only preliminary indicated that the weather system created many challenges for both his Ministry and the travelling public since several areas on the Island Main Road and other secondary roads were undermined as a result of the swift running water.
"This morning we went in the Cox /Beaumont area and we saw some challenges. There were a number of water situations and we had to visit several places from which we received calls to as to the water affecting homes.
"We were out and still doing our assessment and we expect to get a full report. We will review these reports and have our in-house discussions and we will come up with possible solutions.
We will also be having discussions with the Ministry of Finance with regard to the cost of the damage because these are things we have to deal with on a fairly rapid basis. So we have some challenges but I am hopeful that things could work out for us.
I want the public to be patient with us and we will try our very best to deal with some of these issues as they arise," he said.
Meantime, schools on Nevis remained closed today in anticipation of more heavy rains however, government offices reopened for a few hours Friday, after most were closed on midday Thursday.
