Flood fears spark clean-up cry
Residents in anguish over threat from choked Cave River
Published:Thursday | February 10, 2022 | 12:11 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
With a build-up of debris, including fallen bamboo stalks and garbage, preventing the free flow of water in the Cave River during periods of heavy rainfall, Hugh Johnson is seeking the assistance of donor agencies to conduct a river-cleaning exercise to safeguard a number of St Ann communities prone to periodic flooding.
Although this may not be a permanent solution, Johnson, chairman of the St Ann Parish Development Committee who resides in the vicinity of the river, believes that it could prevent overflow during rainfall and help to stem heavy losses to crops, livestock, residences, and businesses in Aenon Town, Borobridge, and Cave Valley along the St Ann-Clarendon border.
Johnson told The Gleaner that he had hoped to get the interest of donor agencies by now, but with the National Works Agency (NWA) yet to respond to a request for an estimate of cost to clean the approximately two-mile channel from the Aenon Town bridge in Clarendon to Greenock bridge in Cave Valley, St Ann, the committee is at a standstill and unable to make any proposals.
But Stephen Shaw, manager of communication and customer service at the NWA, told The Gleaner on Monday that he was not aware of any such request for an estimate.
Johnson said that he got wind that both St Ann South Western Member of Parliament Zavia Mayne and his parliamentary colleague from Clarendon Northern, Dwight Sibblies, have expressed interest in supporting such an initiative.
“But we haven’t seen anything happening yet, so we are hoping that sooner or later, something will happen to start preventing the flooding of this area,” said Johnson.
When contacted on Tuesday, Sibblies had agreed to speak with The Gleaner on the matter, explaining that he would be meeting with Mayne in the afternoon to discuss the situation, but up to press time Wednesday, there had been no response to questions from our newsroom.
Johnson, a businessman and farmer, is no stranger to the anguish of seeing his livelihood swept away in one fluid motion due to flooding.
LOST CROPS
He recalled that just last August, he lost 8,000 pounds of carrot, 20,000 pounds of cabbage, as well as other leafy vegetables such as lettuce and pak choi.
“So all a that go down the drain, and at that time, cabbage was selling for $160 in the field,” he said, estimating his losses to have been in the region of $1 million.
With no compensation, Johnson explained that land owners are continuously left on their own to rebuild.
To add to the pain, the road infrastructure has also begun to deteriorate with the overflowing of the river, which sees water being settled there for several hours a day at times.
“If this continues, what will happen is that very soon, we won’t have any roadway in this area,” he said.
Having lived in the area for decades, he explained that there are also times when the Borobridge area may not be experiencing rainfall, but adverse weather in sections of Clarendon, Manchester, and Trelawny cause the Cave River to be in spate and flood the area.
Johnson said that there is a major flooding phenomenon roughly every seven years, pointing to a flood line on a building in the town square serving as a reminder of the devastation caused by water reaching heights of some 20 feet.