This past weekend offered Barbados a harsh and necessary wake-up call. A few intense hours of rainfall – focused largely on one side of the island – were enough to overwhelm roads, trap residents, claim the life of one man, and stretch our emergency services to the limit. It wasn’t a tropical storm. It wasn’t Hurricane Melissa. It wasn’t a system with a name.
It was just rain.
Yet the impact was anything but ordinary. The Barbados Fire Service reported a surge of distress calls from people stranded in their vehicles and homes as sudden flooding turned familiar districts into danger zones. Chief Fire Officer Errol Maynard confirmed that crews were forced into multiple rescues across rural communities and have since been assessing the sheer volume of emergency calls that poured in.
And the danger was not limited to property or inconvenience. Search and rescue operations were launched on Sunday night as the Barbados Fire Service, the Barbados Defence Force, and the Barbados Coast Guard combed the Charles Rowe Bridge area in St George for a missing man who eyewitnesses say was swept away by raging floodwaters. The intensity of the rainfall transformed a normally manageable waterway into a violent current capable of pulling a human being under or swallowing up a car in seconds.
Prime Minister Mia Mottley and Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams were on site overnight, receiving updates and assessing the unfolding situation alongside emergency personnel. Their presence and the death of the man who died after being washed away underscored the very seriousness of the event. Again, from nothing more than heavy rainfall.
If this is what a few hours of heavy rainfall can do, we must ask ourselves, honestly: how are we prepared for a hurricane?
Every year, disaster officials urge Barbadians to prepare early. Every year, climate experts warn that weather patterns are shifting. And every year, many of us wait until the very last minute to take action or worse, take no action at all.
Sunday’s flood didn’t just expose weak infrastructure. It exposed a national mindset that remains dangerously reactive. Too many people still treat preparedness as optional, inconvenient, or something reserved for named storms. But climate change has removed the luxury of predictability. Extreme weather no longer waits for hurricane season, and danger no longer announces itself days in advance.
If a single rainfall can paralyse sections of the country, then we are living in a new normal, and it is one we have yet to fully accept.
The science has been clear for years: rising global temperatures mean the atmosphere holds more moisture, leading to heavier, more intense bursts of rainfall. Storms strengthen faster. Flooding happens quicker. Systems form outside the traditional season. And even when no storm is present, a tropical wave or simple convection can deliver rainfall intense enough to threaten lives.
Barbados is feeling these shifts in real time. What used to be dismissed as “bad weather” can now deliver the kind of flooding, damage, and emergency strain that once required a storm warning.
If rainfall alone can overwhelm the Fire Service, block roads, trigger search and rescue missions, and trap families, what happens with a direct strike from a Category 1 or Category 2 hurricane? We don’t need to imagine Category 5 destruction to understand our vulnerabilities. Sunday showed us exactly how quickly things can unravel.
Preparedness must now be an everyday culture, not a last-minute scramble. Every household should know its flood risks, have a go-bag, secure documents, and establish a communication plan. Communities should look out for their elderly and vulnerable. Businesses should revisit continuity plans, power backups, and staff safety procedures. And as the government continues to strengthen infrastructure and drainage, public behaviour must shift alongside it.
Barbadians are resilient, but resilience is not only about bouncing back; it is about preparing forward. Sunday’s flood was a warning. It was a preview of what could come if we continue taking preparedness lightly.
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