Dumping blamed as Runaway Bay flooded again

It was a familiar sight for residents of Runaway Bay as the square was flooded for at least the fourth time since 2012.

Heavy rains between Monday night and Tuesday morning flooded sections of the St Ann district similar to 2012, 2016 and 2018. In 2016, then Mayor of St Ann's Bay Michael Belnavis said $50 million was needed to correct the problem. This amount was never spent, according to current Mayor Sydney Stewart, who nevertheless said the responsibility was that of the National Works Agency (NWA).

The yard of the Runaway Bay Police Station, the Jewel Runaway Bay Hotel, including the lobby area, and the Carl Rattray Staff College were some of the premises that were flooded. A team from the NWA was out early yesterday and acted quickly to ensure that vehicular traffic could move freely.

Stewart and a team from the St Ann Municipal Corporation, along with representatives of the NWA and Member of Parliament for North East St Ann, Krystal Lee, toured sections of Runaway Bay to assess the damage. Stewart said poor construction practices were a contributing factor.

"The rain fell for the entire night, very heavily, and carried down a lot of debris into Runaway Bay square but what I'm looking at is a result of bad construction practices because I see logs that were cut by power saw. So it tells me some of the people who are constructing in the [surrounding] communities would have cut down these trees and deposit in the gully," he said.

Quizzed about the small drains in Runaway Bay square, Stewart said that while it was the responsibility of the NWA, the municipal corporation's technical officer has recommended changes to the drainage system.

"He's suggesting that we can open these drains. We can remove the top and put grilles across them so the thing can flow," he said. "Once it starts blocking up, we can lift that and then the debris will go through. We're going back to look at that to determine how we can reconstruct those drains so they can take the debris right across the outlet and into the sea properly."

The mayor noted that the road surface, for the most part, was intact despite the flood. Several streets off the main thoroughfare were, however, damaged. Lee agreed that after early assessment, the floodwaters came from surrounding communities.

"The assessment shows that debris has been dumped into the drainage system and into the river way and so all of that has caused the blockage of the water and caused the water to be going through people's properties and on the road and so on," Lee said. "Clearly, this water is coming from inside communities coming down to the coast."

She added that from discussions it was learnt that the NWA would be converting the drainage system at Runaway Bay square to allow for greater water flow.

The municipal corporation said it will be enforcing the proper disposal of debris from land clearing and the cutting of trees. Up to late yesterday, there were no reports of persons' homes being severely affected by the flooding and there was no report of major damage to properties.