A near disaster was averted in St Andrew this morning as heavy rainfall caused land slippage in Trio Path, endangering the life of four members of a household.
Roger Watson told Barbados TODAY he was at home at around 6:30 am when he noticed that something was wrong.
“I looked through the window and I see like the tree looked strange so I tell myself ‘open the door and see what going on [about] here’. When I opened the door I see that all the land move from up there and come all the way down and had the whole back door blocked up,” he recalled.
Within half an hour of noticing the problem, Watson said water started to flood the house, forcing him to appeal for help.
It was a close call this morning for Trio Path, St Andrew resident Roger Watson as incessant rainfall caused land slippage.
“I contacted everybody CERO (now Department of Emergency Management), a lot of officials like the people who deal with land slippage but [there’s nothing] they can do today because outside is really wet and thing but they’re willing to assist.”
Up to this evening, Watson and his friends were at work clearing the blocked doorway and digging a pathway to divert water away from his home.
The situation at Trio Path was one of two brought to the attention of the Department of Emergency Management, which is directed by Judy Thomas.
“Two people were responded to in St Andrew that [was] associated with a possible landslide so we were helping with that one and then there was an elderly couple that had a roof leaking in Christ Church,” she explained, stating that a tarpaulin was used to deal with the leaking roof.
“All the other calls did not get our attention personally but the Drainage Unit responded to several cases in St Philip, Christ Church and St Michael. A lot of the drains were blocked so they alleviated the flooding by making sure they cleared the drains and some of the grills in the roads had to be replaced so they did that.”
At 4:30 this evening, the Barbados Meteorological Office discontinued the flood warning, which was in place for much of the day.
It said, however, that with “the trough system lingering over the area for at least another 12 to 24 hours, the island will continue to experience generally cloudy skies and intermittent showers tonight and into tomorrow.”
Forecasters said the heavy showers were caused by the interaction of a trough system and the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone.
