The nine inches of torrential rainfall, which wreaked havoc on certain parts of the island on Sunday, severely affected the country’s road infrastructure, prompting the Ministry of Transport and Works (MTW) to work feverishly to clear main arteries and close holes on roads, created by the deluge.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Works Santia Bradshaw revealed this yesterday as she led a team of government officials across various communities to examine the effect of the rains on the island. The team included Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Works and Member of Parliament (MP) for St. Andrew, Dr. Romel Springer; Minister of Home Affairs, Wilfred Abrahams; MP for St. Peter, Colin Jordan; St. Joseph MP, Dale Marshall; St. Lucy MP, Peter Philips, ministry officials and officers from the Department of Emergency Management (DEM).

Ms. Bradshaw stated: “We have been fortunate but this scenario has pointed out a number of challenges that we have in relation to unprecedented rainfall… I think when it first started out it was a flash flood warning that was issued and then we’ve seen across the entire country, particularly the rural parishes, a level of rainfall, over seven inches, in some cases, up to nine inches in some other districts that impacted not just households across the various communities but also  the road infrastructure.”

While noting that a number of roads had been undergoing trenching, like the Colleton area, across the Scotland District, she told media representatives that mains replacements is being undertaken and as a result, roads had been dug up and trenching was ongoing [before the rains] but this had now been impacted by the deluge.

“Rains like this basically set back the road works programme but have also in a sense eaten out the roadway and you are going to see a lot of holes, which we are working feverishly now to be able to close up,” she explained.

Further noting that several contractors had been asked to “go out and do the backfilling”, to ensure the closure of many of these holes, Ms. Bradshaw added: “But we are seeing that across a number of the projects that we are visiting this morning [yesterday], and I suspect that as we continue along the day, you are going to start to see debris and a lot of the marl that has been washed out from these road works.”

It was also pointed out that MTW was doing road works at St. Lucy and St. Peter and was mindful that as those works continue, “the heavy rains are going to compound the issues in terms of getting these roads replaced”.

“So, I would want that Barbadians pay attention to where these challenges are. We will have the contractors on the ground and certainly MTW teams at the depots going out to clear, first of all, the main arteries and then we would come into the communities as we get the request through the DEM [Department of Emergency Management] and the depots to be able to clear a number of those areas.” (PR/MTW)

DPM Santia Bradshaw and MP for St. Lucy Peter Phillips speaking to a resident in Maycocks, St. Lucy (Photo by W. Murray/MTW)

Canal in Speightstown, St. Peter (Photo by W. Murray/MTW)