‘Every time it rain, mi fret’
Concerned Seaview Gardens resident fearful that if culvert not fixed, someone could be washed away
HIS BUSINESS place is located across from the traffic lights at the intersection of Chesterfield Drive and Pacific Boulevard in Seaview Gardens. It was for this reason that a concerned Almando Bailey was keeping an eye on the weather when The Gleaner caught up with him recently.
Over the four years since he relocated to the open lot and built a number of beehives on the premises, ‘Shoey’, as Bailey is known for his expertise in shoe repairs, has learnt that even when there is no rain in the area, he must stay on top of the weather reports. This is because the gully which once flowed freely past his business place, can become engorged in a matter of minutes, blocked by discarded refrigerators, old stoves, mattresses and thousands of plastics bottles carried on the water in a swirling mass.
The flood from the rains a few days before had receded, depositing two tranches of stinking garbage – one directly in front of his business place – and Bailey was preparing to clean it up.
CONSTANT FLOODING
Residents blame the constant flooding on the inability of the two culverts, built under the new section of Pacific Boulevard connecting Marcus Garvey Drive, to carry the load of solid waste washed down from upper St Andrew though the network of gullies. Bailey is among those who welcome the new roadway, but believes that unless the culvert issue is corrected, someone is likely to be washed away one day, or night, when the rains come calling again.
He explained that when the road contractors were doing the preparatory work for the roadway and started digging up a section of the concrete gully to replace the section that runs under the roadway with two culverts, they warned that this would be a big mistake. These concerns were dismissed and now every time it rains, residents of the area don’t sleep peacefully.
“We tell them to fi low (leave) it, because them have whole heap a trouble fi dig it up. Now if a piece a cloth come, the gully block quick and the water come over pon the road, and in no time the whole place flood out. It all come inna mi business place,” he lamented.
During the last heavy rains, five of Bailey’s hives were washed away and he is not happy with the failure of the authorities to address the flooding issue. In fact, the condition has spawned a situation where, in addition to keeping a close watch on the weather, Bailey now finds himself with a full-time job on his hands.
Debris usually gets trapped around the traffic light and deposited in his business place whenever the area gets flooded.
“Every time it rain mi a fret and me always a clean up the place. Me haffi keep the drain clean, this one especially so that the water nuh come over pon me.”
He could not remember her name offhand, but Bailey commended the councillor for the division, who sometimes pays to clean up the garbage after the rains, and he gets some of that work.