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Ghut water forced way into new ESHS & flooded building– Hon de Castro

-works already progressed to clean build-up of water mud & slush brought by TS Philippe
Hon de Castro said specific to the new ESHS building, a significant amount of the water that came rushing through, was as a result of an overflowing Ghut at the back of the school. Photo: Team of Reporters
Speaking on the impacts of the storm on the New Elmore Stoutt High School (ESHS) building, Hon de Castro said while the school was initially flooded as shown in viral videos, the water has since receded, a testament to the preparation work and the clearing the Ghuts and drains in the area for the hurricane season. Photo: GIS/Facebook
Speaking on the impacts of the storm on the New Elmore Stoutt High School (ESHS) building, Hon de Castro said while the school was initially flooded as shown in viral videos, the water has since receded, a testament to the preparation work and the clearing the Ghuts and drains in the area for the hurricane season. Photo: GIS/Facebook
Hon De Castro said with work underway, much clearing has already been accomplished while adding that a call was also put out by the ESHS Principal for persons to visit the school and assist with the clean-up works. Photo: Team of Reporters
Hon De Castro said with work underway, much clearing has already been accomplished while adding that a call was also put out by the ESHS Principal for persons to visit the school and assist with the clean-up works. Photo: Team of Reporters
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – In the aftermath of flooding in the Virgin Islands (VI) as a result of the passage of Tropical Storm Philippe, Subject Minister for Education, Youth Affairs and Sports, Hon Sharie B. de Castro (AL) says while the situation could have been worse, the people of the VI remain grateful for life as works begin to clean affected schools.

“I sympathize and empathize with the persons who have been affected… Of course, our schools at various levels have been affected but we’re just grateful for life,” she told Director of Communication Ms Karia J. Christopher of the Government Information Service today, October 4, 2023.  

Cleanup started at ESHS 

Speaking on the impacts of the storm on the New Elmore Stoutt High School (ESHS) building, Hon de Castro said while the school was initially flooded as shown in viral videos, the water has since receded, a testament to the preparation work and the clearing the Ghuts and drains for the hurricane season.

“Obviously I saw the videos… we were able to come along and have a look by the time we got there, the water had already receded which you know spoke volumes to the work that was done to assist in clearing some of the drains and the guts which ultimately helped,” she said.  

Hon de Castro said specific to the new ESHS building, a significant amount of the water that came rushing through, was as a result of an overflowing Ghut at the back of the school.  

Overflowing ghut cleaned 

The Minister speaking to GIS said while the water brought a lot of mud which impacted some of the classrooms at the back of the building, teams were working to hastily remove the slush to prevent it from drying which would cause further challenges.

“And of course, right next door we have our major Ghut. That's really what caused the challenge... the water was really high and it forced its way over onto the campus, that Ghut has already been significantly cleaned,” she added. 

Hon De Castro said with work underway, much clearing has already been accomplished while adding that a call was also put out by the ESHS Principal for persons to visit the school and assist with the clean-up works.

31 Responses to “Ghut water forced way into new ESHS & flooded building– Hon de Castro”

  • Eeeeekk (04/10/2023, 19:31) Like (39) Dislike (12) Reply
    Why all he/her pics always look...NVM.
  • 007 (04/10/2023, 19:34) Like (79) Dislike (16) Reply
    Man.! As a well known place as this..... Can we ever get anything done right. I mean we cant even do tourism right. I love it here but it sucks sometimes. Ghut or not....as it keeps happening make a difference instead of having DeCastro looking and talking about what she dosent know about. Andrew Fahie frigged us. This Gov team only getting fat. UK TAKE OVER PLEASE! NOWW OR NEVER.
    • Kobe (06/10/2023, 03:28) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
      The 15 dislikes are VIP under the table money getters. At least i stad with 71 good ol kinfolk. Stay blessed.
    • please (06/10/2023, 07:24) Like (0) Dislike (2) Reply
      You’re a first class a**!
      • 009 (08/10/2023, 21:21) Like (1) Dislike (0) Reply
        Thats why you get nooo likes. I rather be an ass than a fool.
        A glad you know....FIRST CLASS. YOU A CLOWN. Thanks for a good laugh. Hahaha.Drug money done now and you cant get no more. Joke is on you fool. Hoping you could sleep good. Cause i do. Now how is that for an ass.

  • janet (04/10/2023, 19:35) Like (12) Dislike (83) Reply
    You are doing a good job young lady
    • @ Reply (05/10/2023, 16:17) Like (0) Dislike (3) Reply
      More BS from the jealous vip- decastro haters as the set of loosers are suffering from the fact that the vip will be in there for 4 more years
  • fish (04/10/2023, 19:55) Like (40) Dislike (1) Reply
    Who are these contractors?
  • SHAME (04/10/2023, 20:05) Like (43) Dislike (0) Reply
    The teacher was done talking about the different issues and now look. More issue to deal with. Build a school and no one remember the Ghuts while build the high school buddy. To keep monitoring it . To clear all ghuts in Road Town before storm or hurricane comes. Irma them ignore and say them will not get hit hard. Look philippe them take for granted . Thinking the storm wasnt going to cause major damage. Stop taking important stuff for granted. Just a shame. Next noted all infrastructure need to get properly fix quickly. Premier what are u really doing with the country, money etc. What going on.
  • Seriously. (04/10/2023, 21:03) Like (32) Dislike (8) Reply
    The only thing these elected officials getting right and is good at is travelling the globe jolly ING freely on tax payers money. A lot of this has to do with failure to properly prepare and plan.. When can we realized we need to look at Cayman's success, its all because Britain took it over..Fix it and hand it back to them in good shape. Britain failed us, they should have done the same thing here.. We are like a leaking Boat..
  • oh boy (04/10/2023, 21:11) Like (8) Dislike (26) Reply
    Some of you are unreasonable. Even if some of you live in Heaven you would find fault of God. These things happen all over the world and no matter how good you think your infrastructure is it cannot hold up to the destructions and damages by mother nature. SMDH
    • Fa la la la la la la la la (06/10/2023, 07:29) Like (1) Dislike (0) Reply
      I agree with you 1000%! When the outside world read these comments they does want to know how it has so many idiots in one place!
  • Stop It (04/10/2023, 21:32) Like (37) Dislike (4) Reply
    If you all would stop throwing big bulky waste (old fridge, stoves, mattress, car tires and etc) into the same guts that the same government who you all are blaming have been cleaning, then the water would run freely through the guts, and not end up in the roads. Stop with the nonsense.
  • the people (05/10/2023, 00:18) Like (21) Dislike (0) Reply
    Until grown folks dispose of trash in the bins and not in guts and cause blockage, then we will continue to have floods like these that can be avoided. We have to all do better. We must understand that for guts to run properly, we must also understand that we cannot continue to dump garbage in them. Huge items at that.
  • S.T.E.A.M (05/10/2023, 04:48) Like (10) Dislike (0) Reply
    Cleaner needed!
  • E.Leonard (05/10/2023, 07:35) Like (14) Dislike (0) Reply
    Storm water management is more complicated than it may appear, especially in growing locales. Nevertheless, there are a few basic things that can be done to mitigate potential flooding damages. First, drainage ditches (ghuts) need to be inspected religiously on a periodic schedule basis for debris, etc and to ensure ghuts are maintaining their design and construction profile.

    Outside of the scheduled periodic inspections, major ghuts and flood-prone areas should be inspected when a major rain event, ie, heavy rains, tropical storms, and hurricanes, etc, is appproaching. Moreover, ghuts should be inspected as soon as practical after the major rain event passes, and cleaned and repaired as needed. Second, ghuts outlet elevation should be higher than the elevation at the sea. If it is at a lower or at the same elevation, a hydraulic restriction can occur, especially at high tide, restricting flow. Third, a public education and outreach campaign should be launched on the problems ( flooding) that can result from dumping debris into ghuts, especially large bulky items. Fourth, major ghuts should be sized with the capacity to contain/carry the run-off from 100- year or whatever other return event the Public Works Director deemed appropriate or consistent with the national/territorial drainage master plan. Fifth, as runoff flows down stream, the volume increases and the ghuts sections, culverts and pipe diameters, etc downstream , especially close to the outfall may need to be larger than the upstream sections. I think ESHS may be near the down stream end of the Great Mountain Ghut. Finally, maintenance, maintenance, repair, repair, etc is prudent action and good insurance to mitigate potential flooding.
    • @E. Leonard (05/10/2023, 09:45) Like (7) Dislike (1) Reply
      @E. Leonard, I got a bone to pick with all of you Virgin Islanders who migrated and only come back to visit, contributing to other countries and leaving the BVI flailing and floundering. OK. Enough of that. Now , Leonard those are good points but I’m sure Public Works is not going into those granular details with ghuts. Talking about Public Works, you mentioned the Public Works Director setting sizing the Ghut based on a specific return period, ie, 100- year, 2- year, 19-year, etc. No, that is not going to happen, for Public Works can barely fill a pot hole and it cannot eben keep up with filling pot holes. As far I know, the current Public Work Director is not an engineer so those technical things you talking about he may not be able to confidently addressed. What the hell is a hydraulic restriction? You focus on maintenance, maintenance, as something that should occur periodically like clockwork. We must do that periodically when it is dry; we should spend that dry time to prepare and get ready for when it is wet,rain. Can we and should we do that? Yes, yes. Was the flooding at ESHS due primarily to the Ghut overflowing? Was poor drainage layout, design, and ensuing run-on also a contributing factor to the flooding? Was the low foundation also a contributing factor ? What is the first floor elevation relative to ground?
    • Engineer (05/10/2023, 16:57) Like (3) Dislike (0) Reply
      Which department is responsible for drainage in the territory? Whichever it is, the least that you can and should be doing is Ghut and other drainage conveyance systems maintenance. The BVI has a small storm water system so there is no excuse for not conducting periodic inspection and performing preventative and other maintenance as needed. No, don’t have the budget excuse.

      Town and Country Planning, Public Works/Engineering , Construction Inspection, Contractors, Project Managers, RDA, etc. must pay more attention to civil work, especially grading. I’m out……. ah yu do your damn work properly.
      • @ Engineer (06/10/2023, 07:32) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
        The same people you all does be out their making noise for to get increments they don’t deserve. The polo town can’t hire nor fire them but the politicians get blamed for every darm thing.
        • Engineer (06/10/2023, 15:45) Like (2) Dislike (0) Reply
          @@Engineer, who are they you are talking about? Are you projecting? Often when people are accusing others of wrong, it often turns out they are guilty of the same. Is increments the best way to recognize and reward employees for meeting agreed to performance, ie, a contract between employee, I don’t know. What I don’t know it is contract between employees and government and it should be honored. It is government fault and lessness if it paid increment to undeserving employees.
    • @ E. Leonard (07/10/2023, 06:34) Like (0) Dislike (2) Reply
      @ E. Leonard, need to settle an argument I’m having. I say you are Bobby’s son , others say you are Bobby’s cousin, nephew, brother. What is it? It is trivial but I need to clear up and prove I was right.
      • @@E. Leonard (08/10/2023, 06:09) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
        @@E. Leonard, you need your keyboard taken away, for with all the serious issues with flooding, etc, you find time to post nonsense. You should be pushing government to take action to mitigate the flooding.
  • west (05/10/2023, 08:25) Like (9) Dislike (5) Reply
    The ESHS was designed and built on the Cheap and shows after the floods
  • my two cents (05/10/2023, 08:28) Like (2) Dislike (79) Reply
    They should have designed and built a new high school in praquita bay and should have turned the old high school into a low cost tourist accommodations and used as part of Sports Tourism
  • I islaner (05/10/2023, 08:46) Like (10) Dislike (0) Reply
    The entire school campus doesn't have any proper drainage for the water draining.
    • @I islaner (06/10/2023, 07:36) Like (1) Dislike (2) Reply
      What did the drainage have to do with the flooding? A tree fell in the Ghut and blocked the water from going down the Ghut. Any moomoo knows that the water will create a new route to get out.
      • mp (06/10/2023, 16:52) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
        thank you @ I islaner

        Johnson's ghut was cleaned as Hon. Walwyn said before Philippe, yet still the surrounding areas were flooded.

        All we did was mess with natural waterways, and this what's happen (sadly)
  • PT09 (05/10/2023, 09:55) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    @oh boy you are a blind man.
  • WELL THE UK (06/10/2023, 11:29) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    WILL GET A BREAK NOW , THE CANARY NON THE YELLO SITE SURELY CANNOT PIN NTHE BLAME ON THE COMMISSIONER / RSNKIN OR THE UK / MAYBE CINDY OR WALWYN


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