As flooding brings business to standstill, Pringle calls on Government ministries to buckle down and address infrastructure challenges

“The Government needs to do something about this situation – and soon.” This
was the response of United Progressive Party Political Leader Jamale Pringle
to the massive flooding in St. John’s City and its environs on Monday, June 17,
when torrential rain began hammering these areas at around midday.

Major roadways into the City – including the All Saints Road, Old Parham
Road, American Road, Sir Sidney Walling Highway and Sir George Walter
Highway – were flooded, making driving both slow and dangerous.
On the compound of the Island Provision Ltd., just off the road to the airport,
dirty water that appeared to be at least one foot deep accumulated. And, in

Cassada Gardens, there were reports of an uncleaned gutter, opposite the
O’Beez Complex, being turned into a canal.
Meanwhile, downtown St. John’s and areas of Rural West, in particular, saw
the near-submersion of low-slung vehicles, particularly on the Grays Farm
Main Road.

Pringle acknowledges that rainfall can be unpredictable; but, he says, the
situation is made worse by the failure of the Browne Administration to clear
and clean the drains and waterways in a timely and sustained manner.

Even as water was pouring onto the American Road from both sides of the
street – especially in the Radio Range area – an excavator was at work on the
eastern side, trying to clear a waterway that runs from as far up as Briggins.
It was only last Thursday that the weekly Cabinet Notes claimed that road
repairs are intensifying now that the SIDS4 Conference has passed.

However, after Saturday’s flash-flooding of the Northside and most of the St.
George/St. Peter areas, plus Monday’s deluge of St. John’s, Pringle says the
Ministry of Works, the Ministry of the Environment, and the National Solid
Waste Authority are going to have to buckle down.

Not only are the roads going to need major patching and resurfacing, he says,
but the drains and culverts will need serious attention, too, as the country’s
infrastructure is in poor shape.

The Ministry of Agriculture should look to clean out the major ponds, as well,
Pringle says.

He notes that business in the City came to a virtual halt today, as neither
vehicles nor pedestrians could maneuver, and this could be repeated many
times during the Hurricane Season if the flooding situation is not addressed
urgently and corrected where possible.

The country is only 17 days into the Season, but rainfall for the year is already
at a significant high, taking Antigua and Barbuda out of its years-long drought
condition, the MET Office has reported.