Flooding in Belama Phases Three and Four is nothing new; when it drizzles the waters in the poorly drained area rise. And with these nearly biblical floods, we’ve shown you what it’s been like in those areas. But the Ministry of Works has been looking for an answer and yesterday found a sort of technical loophole. They concluded that the river was lower than the community, so if they could just get drainage in place, the rest would be simple. So last night, they went two work installing two culverts to drain off the community and another to empty it all into the river. Boots Martinez said that serious times call for serious measures.
Hon. Anthony Boots Martinez, Minister of Works
“We’re getting ready to install some culverts to release a lot
of the water from over Belama Phase 3 and 4. We are looking at a couple areas right here on the Northern Highway that the engineers know that once we install the culverts and clear the canals that the water from Belama Phases 3 and 4 will surely be drained off.”
Roger Bradley, Chief Engineer
“We are installing some culverts. We have done a reconnaissance of the area and we have found at least three spots. If we address those three spots, we will reduce the water level, the flooding in the Belama Phase 3 and Phase 4 area and that is what we are doing around the Northern Highway.”
And while water levels have not gone down in any significant way, it’s hard to say if the drainage is working because the flood waters continue to come down.
