The emergency services were commended for their rapid response to the island’s most severe flooding in a decade, as torrential weekend rains left widespread damage and claimed the life of a St George man.
On a tour of flood-hit areas in St Peter and St Lucy on Monday alongside emergency officials, Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams said the scale and speed of the flooding were unlike anything Barbados had previously experienced.
“A lot of the damage occurred in the Charles Rowe Bridge area. I think three or four vehicles washed off the bridge and down the same path that Terry lost his life in that area as well. There were a lot of vehicles submerged,” he said. “There were vehicles that were washed all the way down from St George Parish Church and ended up in the junction by Chefette in Charles Rowe Bridge. We’ve never seen the likes of this before.”
He noted that the Barbados Meteorological Services had confirmed that no engineering solution could have prevented flooding, given the volume of rainfall in such a short period. As much as nine inches (228.6mm) fell in the space of 24 hours in some areas.
The Met Office said that, “quite frankly, with that amount of rainfall in such a short space of time, the best engineering in the world would not have stopped flooding. The water fell, it fell in the higher parishes, it all rushed downhill and really all we can do is mitigate it afterwards,” Abrahams explained.
But the home affairs minister showered high praise on the first responders who led rescue and recovery operations through the night.
“I want at this point in time to commend our emergency services,” Abrahams said. “I want to commend the members of the [District Emergency Organisations] who were out in various communities trying to assist. I want to commend the [Barbados Defence Force], who responded in a big way, supplementing the work of the Fire Service, who I guess principally took the lead in the recovery efforts.”
“There were a lot of rescues and recoveries in Barbados. I don’t believe we ever had that many rescues in one night. A lot of people were trapped in cars, cars were submerged, people were washed away, people had to jump out of cars, and the emergency services did an amazing job.”
St George resident Terry Kellman, 58, was swept away by floodwaters near Charles Rowe Bridge on Sunday night. His body was recovered early Monday.
Speaking about the intense overnight search effort that involved the Barbados Fire Service, the Barbados Defence Force, the Coast Guard and police, Abrahams said: “[During] torrential rain where a gentleman was washed off a bridge… his name is Terry Kellman. The emergency services responded yesterday… the BDF was there, the Coast Guard was there, the police were there, and we were trying hard to find Terry and hopefully rescue him,” he said.
He noted that conditions remained extremely dangerous throughout the operation. Crews were forced to stop when debris blocked the river, prompting the BDF’s drone unit to continue the search from above.
“He was found and his body was recovered and his family identified him this morning,” Abrahams said, describing it as “a very difficult night” for relatives who had been holding out hope.
“Our sympathies, the sympathy of the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, all of us, go to the family. We felt the pain… I am satisfied that the emergency services did everything they possibly could.” (SB)
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