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Sudden downpour floods Road Town
While the local Department of Disaster Management (DDM) said the presence of a persistent frontal trough, coupled with light winds, daytime heating and a marginal increase in low-level moisture and instability could lead to a heightened chance for shower activity, no one was prepared for the amount of rain.
Videos sent to our newsroom showed flooded streets in the capital city as well as in Huntums Ghut, Sea Cows Bay and Pockwood Pond.
Sources stated that businesses on Flemming Street were particularly affected by the flood waters.
Over the last weekend, thunderstorms, which the National Weather Service in San Juan, Puerto Rico had alerted would impact the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, came with fury on Friday, leading to heavy flooding in especially St Thomas, while triggering an island-wide power outage on St Croix.
DDM said the weather for today, May 7, 2024, was partly sunny skies with periods of increased cloudiness and a 60 per cent or moderate chance of localised showers during the mid-morning to afternoon hours.
Flash flood warning now in effect
At 4:12 PM, DDM stated on its Facebook page that a flash flood warning for low-lying and flood-prone areas of the VI would be valid until 5:30 PM.
“A flash flood warning means that moderate to major flooding is occurring or imminent in the warning area. Flash flooding is a very dangerous situation. If you are in low-lying or flood-prone areas, move quickly to higher ground immediately,” DDM added.
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44 Responses to “Sudden downpour floods Road Town”
Is retarded people like you why the country running how it is. I born 1994 and them never had proper drainage system so what they doing with the money every year ????
This place is a mess thanks to the people we elect every four years to do nothing but fatten their own pockets SMH
But mother nature doesn't like being messed about with and you can be sure that she'll continue her efforts to put the cays back where they rightfully belong.
How you scheduling meetings for beautification of Road Town when even the basics like cleaning ghuts, drains and maintenance of the landscape is not being done?
We are so far behind.
When you build on every inch of your property and fail to follow the approved building plan, what do you think will happen.
When you park you old broke down vehicles and boats along the public road and on other people property, refuse to move them and vex when told to do so. What do you think will happen.
The government has a responsibility to the people but we also have a responsibility too and that cannot be ignored. Every time some thing goes wrong we blame the government but do take responsibility for our actions. We don’t call out our friend and family for thing they do wrong that can affect other people lives. Cleaning the ghuts and drainage go along way but people need to stop dumping their trash in these areas.
Exploring and constructing a pump station(s) can help to help to resolve/relief the drainage problem. Constructing a sea wall is another option. Clearly, these are large capital projects . Nonetheless, for a drainage system to operate optimally, it must be continually maintained and repaired. There should be set periodic schedules for maintaining drainage systems,, ie, inlets, catch basins, manholes, road side ditches, curb and gutter, ghuts, etc.
@@E. Leonard, stop the damn pretense. When Virgin Islanders venture to come back, they are treated like sh** perhaps from insecurity, jealousy, crab-in-barrel behavior, etc.,Fed up with cold welcome, they bolt from the territory as quickly as possible. The divide and rule mentality wheel is turning if only slowly. With this behaviour, the colonialists don’t have to do much, for they have partners with their agenda.
Moreover, when the volume of runoff exceeds the capacity of the drainage system, the system surcharges resulting in flooding. The flooding can back up into the plumbing system resulting in flooding in homes and other facilities..
The drainage system should be maintained, ie, cleaning on a programmatic periodic schedule in and outside of hurricane season. Nevertheless,,maintenance aside, It is cost prohibitive to construct, maintain, operate and managed a drainage system with the capacity to safely handle all rain events, especially the less frequent recurrent interval rains. Consequently, as another more blogger more colorfully noted that with these events the community will take some blows. To transfer the risk, may require property owners to increase insurance coverage, which may already be high and out of reach of many property owners. It is importance to note that insurance companies may have separate flood, and wind storm. In the US, the Federal government offers flood insurance.