Port Morant drainage work leaves residents worried about flood threat

Residents in parts of Port Morant, St. Thomas, remain uneasy about possible flooding, despite recent work carried out to improve drains in the area.

Dinsdale Smith, councillor for the Port Morant Division, said complaints reaching him suggest the intervention has fallen short of resolving drainage problems that have affected the community for a long time. He said residents are worried the work could leave them more vulnerable when there is heavy rainfall.

Smith said some of the drains appear to be too small, creating concern that water could be pushed back into nearby communities unless further corrective work is done before the peak of the hurricane season.

"The situation, as I see it, has not helped. It is like just extended the problem further and making the flooding take place further. It seems like an effort towards zero. So we have a situation where we now have an extension of the drain, an earth drain extended about 150 metres back further into the flooded area so that the area can be flooded a little bit more. I would like to find out whether or not they are going to take the drain towards the sea and away from the people who reside in and around the flooded area. We need the kind of attention that is necessary to solve problems, not to just put problems to the side and then they resurface later," he contended.