Lowe: Projects a flood threat

Housing developments in uphill areas are creating a drainage headache for communities below and may in many instances be contributing to flooding in Barbados’ low-lying areas.

So says Minister of the Environment and Drainage Dr Denis Lowe, who added that people were building on water courses, affecting how the water got from the high elevations to the run-off point. He claimed it was happening “all over Barbados”.

He told the House of Assembly yesterday some people were constructing “without the permission of the Town Planning Department” while others were even challenging that department’s authority by starting a development and applying for building retention afterwards.

Speaking on a resolution to abandon Government’s compulsory acquisition of land at Weston, St James, that had been deluged by the flood of 1995 that claimed the life of popular calypsonian Carew, Lowe said water flowed downhill at a rapid rate “because there are no adequate check dam systems that would slow down the pace of the water as it gets down to the lower elevations. (GC) 

Please read the full story in today’s Midweek Nation, or in the eNATION edition.