More than three inches of rain fall in Gray Hill/Golden Grove community, and many streets experience major flooding

Meteorologist Dale Destin says certain parts of Antigua received over three inches of rainfall on Saturday, October 16. 

  

Rain fell in the central and northern parts of the island, causing flooding in certain flood-prone villages. 

  

Video footage records flooding in the Grays Farm area, and Destin confirms that over three inches of rain fell in the Gray Hill/Golden Grove community between 3:30 and 6:30 p.m.  

   

This is a lot by any metric, Destin says, although Antigua and Barbuda has been experiencing drought conditions for over 10 years now. 

  

He says that similar showers fell at the Botanical Gardens between 1 and 6:20 p.m., while Dunbars recorded about 1.5 inches.  

  

However, no other area in which the Met Office has a station recorded more than 0.33 inch of rain, the Acting Met Director says. 

  

The rainfall caused the water course that leads to the McKinnon pond, from as far as Clare Hall, to be filled.  This reportedly caused some flooding in Fort Road and Gambles since the channel runs through those areas, as well. 

  

As a result of the torrential rain – almost as much as that which damaged several roads last November –  the Police had to appeal to residents in the Golden Golden/Cooks New Extension area to exercise extreme caution when maneuvering through the flood waters. 

  

Traffic also had to be diverted to the stretch of road leading from Union Road, Hatton, instead of the road passing Jim Daddy’s church, which was completely flooded and impassable. 

  

The Fire Department Rescue Team responded to an emergency in the area and rescued two people from a vehicle that had stalled in the water. They were both unharmed. 

  

Other parts of the island also received welcome showers on Sunday, October 17, and residents were grateful for the top-up to their tanks and cisterns. 

  

Additionally, a flash-flood advisory was issued that day for low-lying and flood-prone areas across the island. It was issued some time after 1 p.m. and terminated at 4 p.m. 

  

Weather forecaster Bernell Simon says the rainy conditions were due to a weak trough over the northeast Caribbean, coupled with light winds, daytime heating, and available moisture. 

  

On Sunday, an inch of rain fell in some areas, while it was more in others, Simon reports.