Traffic interrupted due to flash flooding at Johnson’s Ghut
Persons were forced to access the Purcell area via other routes as the water pressure under the ghut also forced out one of the metal covers on the road.
Luckily for persons in direct proximity to the ghut, however, the water receded as quickly as it had built up.
A team from the Department of Public Works was soon on the scene to assess the flooding and to re-fit the metal cover that was displaced.
The Director of Public Works Department, Jeffrey Skelton, was also in Purcell assessing the flas flood situation but declined to comment to Virgin Islands News Online when approached.
A few onlookers expressed concern that the ghut continues to flood whenever it rains heavily. “And hurricane season coming,” one man commented.
Efforts to reach the Minister for Communications and Works Hon. Mark H. Vanterpool and Sixth District Representative Alvera Maduro-Caines were not successful up to post time.
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25 Responses to “Traffic interrupted due to flash flooding at Johnson’s Ghut”
When rain falls, the portion that is not trap by vegetation or infiltrate into the ground becomes runoff; runoff is the portion that is collected and conveyed out to sea. Typically, a system is designed, constructed and maintained to collect and safely convey the runof from a design storm (100, 50, 25, 10, 5-year). And any storm that is larger than the designed storm will result in flooding. Additionally, undersizing of pipes, culverts, bridges and ghuts to carry the design storm will also result in flooding. Poor maintenance can also contributing to flooding; branches, wood, garbage and other debris in the conveyance system can rerstrict flow and cause overtopping of the system and cause flooding. Futher the system must be designewd to avoid peak flows in various segments of the system occur at the time.
It is niether economical nor practical to design a system to carry every possible design storm. But normally systems are designed to carry the more frequent storms, ie, 5 10, 25, or 100-year. 500-year storms are rare so it would not be economical to built infrastructure to carry such a storm. In any event, whatever system is designed must carry the runoff from the contributing area safety and effectively. For example, a 100-year system must if properly constructed and maintained carry a 100-year storm without surcharging and flooding neighborhoods and business areas.
A common cause of flooding result from clogged systems as result of debris and thrash. Consequently, there must be a proactive and comprehensive maintenance programme in place to provide routine preventative maintenance inspection(PMI). Moreover, ghuts and other flood-prone areas in drainage basins should be inspected before a projected heavy rain. Additionally, crews should out as needed during heavy rains ( non tropical system, ie tropical storm/hurricane) to remove blockages, along with monitoring the functioning and effetiveness of the collection and conveyance systems. There are many opportunities during a heavy rain for any segment in the conveyance system to be affected by bottlenecks.