KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – A disaster management official is urging citizens to stay away from flows of water that have developed as a result of the recent torrential rains.
“It is as dangerous as its gets because there could be additional flash floods that can in fact result in the loss of life,” Howie Prince, director of the National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) told the National Broadcasting Corporation on Monday.
“So, we want to warn people to stay away from areas where suddenly there is a river where there was none before,” he said.
Prince’s warning came after seeing residents of Sandy Bay “having a nice bath” where a flow of water had developed in the North Windward district after rains yesterday.
A heavy trough system has been dumping large amount of rain on the country, resulting in flash floods, landslides and damage to three water intakes.
According to the NEMO official, there were landslides on the windward (eastern) side of the country, including in San Souci, Gorse, Sandy Bay, Owia, and Fancy, where a 120-foot retaining wall at the playing field collapsed and was cordoned off.
The Central Water and Sewerage Authority said Monday that the incessant rains were hindering its repair and restoration efforts on the Hermitage water system on the leeward side of the country and the Sandy Bay and Owia water intakes in North Windward.
As a result, the water supply in communities from Barrouallie to Richmond — on the leeward side of St. Vincent — and Owia to Point and Magum to Overland — on the windward side — were affected.