St Peter MP Colin Jordan rejected claims of flooding in Speightstown after Sunday’s torrential rains, insisting that the town’s central canal worked exactly as designed to channel stormwater and spare surrounding areas from inundation.
On a tour of affected districts with emergency officials, Jordan said the canal, which cuts through the heart of the northern town, handled the deluge remarkably well.
“We are standing here at the mouth of the Salt Pond. I really have to tell you that I am pleased that this canal did exactly what it was supposed to do,” he said. “There was a video circulating saying that Speightstown has flooded and, you know, people tell lies…but what the video showed was the canal doing exactly what the canal was constructed to do.”
The canal, built after the historic floods of 1984 swept through the area, was engineered to accommodate a one-in-50-year weather event, and Sunday’s downpour likely came close to that threshold, Jordan said. Despite the high tide limiting how quickly water could move out to sea, he said the traditional flood-prone zones stayed dry.
“The canal handled the water well… it never flooded the traditional areas that are flooded,” he said. “This canal worked beautifully. It took the water coming from as far up as Four Hill, all through Sailor Gully, through The Rock, through Whim Gully, down to [Salt Pond].”
He credited recent government investments in retention ponds, constructed along several watercourses in recent years, for helping reduce the flow of runoff during the most intense rainfall.
“That is something that this government has done since we came into office, recognising that we have to explore different possibilities,” he added.
Jordan and the assessment team toured several of the hardest-hit districts in St Peter on Monday morning, though he acknowledged it was not possible to visit every affected area in a single day. Their first stop was Rose Hill, where heavy water flow along the natural watercourse caused problems for nearby infrastructure.
“We started at Rose Hill, where we looked at an area that is a watercourse,” he explained.
“In that area, while there’s significant water when there’s large rainfall, the infrastructure that is impacted is really the mini-mart on the western side of Rose Hill Road, SNH Variety.”
Water rushing through the Rose Hill Gully was partially diverted because the Ministry of Transport and Works (MTW) had already begun clearing a nearby well, he said, but more work is required to ease pressure during future storms. One proposal discussed on Monday was the creation of upstream retention ponds directly within the gully.
“MTW is going to be exploring that possibility…so that the flow of water through Apple Grove could be slowed and possibly reduced,” Jordan said.
From there, the team visited Diamond Corner, where the bridge near the former pond area saw heavy flooding as water poured down from Nicholas and Cherry Tree Hill.
“That had significant water yesterday,” Jordan reported. He said culverts in the area moved some of the flow, but blockages likely contributed to water overtopping the road. “That water overtopping the road caused some vehicles to stall in it.”
He also confirmed notable road damage in the Moore Hill area, which will require further evaluation and repairs.
Jordan said detailed assessments by MTW and other agencies are ongoing and that additional interventions, including further clearing, culvert work, and expanded retention capacity, will be considered as the government moves to address vulnerabilities exposed by the weekend’s extreme rainfall. (SB)
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