RESIDENTS of Ocean Lake in Bull Bay, St Andrew, are in a state of desperation over flooding caused by a pond in their community and what they describe as neglect from public officials in rectifying the situation.

Last week during a visit to the community, the Jamaica Observer news team observed that water from the pond had overflowed onto Windward Close and settled in the roadway and homes of residents. In addition to the overflow, there were complaints of blocked sewers and drainages, which resulted in back-up of water into bathtubs and hindered the free flushing of toilets.

Marva Furlongue-Laver, the owner of a property on Windward Close, told the Sunday Observer that she is at the point of desperation, having complained to various public officials since 2007, only for temporary solutions to be implemented in an ad hoc fashion.

“Since our purchase of this property we’ve battled with the flooding of the road when it rains and the pond overflows. There is no proper drainage that relieves the road. I have contacted various departments, prime ministers and councillors and each response has been placing a band aid to temporarily relieve the symptoms. This water is a health hazard, a public health issue. The local councillor is aware of the problem. During my visit to my home last week, the road was flooded and the water is travelling onto my property. My home was inaccessible to me from the main entrance; I have park on someone else’s property and walk through the rear. We are in desperate need of a permanent solution,” Furlongue-Laver said.

Furthermore, Furlongue-Laver pointed out that she has sent a series of e-mails to her Member of Parliament, councillor, the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC), the city engineer at the KSAMC, the Ministry of Local Government and the Office of the Prime Minister, to which she has received no response.

The Sunday Observer was sent copies of these e-mails, which date back to 2018. In the e-mails Furlongue-Laver continuously outlines the issues to which no response is offered, except for a July 10, 2018 reply from the Office of Desmond McKenzie in the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, and a January 6, 2020 follow-up response to the same issue informing her that the matter was passed on to the relevant individuals and she will be kept informed.

In addition, Furlongue-Laver sent screenshots indicating that she was blocked from the Twitter page of her Member of Parliament for East Rural St Andrew, Juliet Holness.

According to another resident, who wished not to be named, the issues with the pond are grave, but the level of flooding that can occur often leaves them in fear.

“It is affected by wind activity at sea. When the tide rises, the pond rises. When it [pond] gets full, it spills over on the road. There is also a problem with the retaining wall. The retaining wall is dilapidated and there is a part that is torn down. It was torn down when Government had sent a tractor to come here. The tractor tore it down over two years now. Then we have the drainage at the top of the road. They took away the drainage cover and did not put it back,” the resident said.

The resident further highlighted that a temporary solution to the overflow from the pond was developed. This, according to the resident, involves bursting the pond to allow the water to flow freely into the sea.

The rationale is due to the pond having inlets but no outlet to the sea.

“So, what they normally do is to burst, as in actually open a physical channel to let the water out. Although we need an official channel to get it out, Government has not paid us any mind to burst the channel and let out the water. They usually do this periodically sometimes twice for the year, maybe once for the year. The last time I know they came was over two years ago. I have been living here over 12 years,” the resident said.

Furthermore, the resident pointed out that the pond has forced residents who reside on Windward Close to find alternative means to access their homes.

“They have not been able to use the road they live on to enter their property. They park around the back on people’s property. What happens if that land is sold and they have no access at all?” the individual said. “Look at that house. The grass is tall as trees covering the entrance. The whole community is affected. When the water is like this the underground table is very high. People can’t flush their toilet, there are people houses that are sinking, the flooring is tearing up.”

The resident went on to indicate how the water has eroded the iron on the gates of several homes and shared that the pond has crocodiles, which often come out onto the roadway and perch in the settled water or under hanging trees.

Additionally, the resident said there are people in the community who understand how to release the water, however, when the authorities come to clear the pond, they do not consult with them and as a result the problem remains.

“Politicians on top of politicians have come and failed to pull it. People come in, do their own thing, want to work by themselves and use their own people — fine. But when they do that, when they are finished, even after a week’s work it remains like this. It looks simple, but it is complex. I’m saying work with the people who have lived here for years and can show you how to get it done properly. It makes no sense spend the resources, but the job is not done. Worse, it makes no sense clear the pond but the road is still bushed up and impassable. We would appreciate a pull right now but we also need something permanent,” the resident said.

But city engineer at the KSAMC, Norman Shand, said he is aware of the pond and the many issues it presents, however, he has not heard any recent reports of issues.

“The councillors usually make a report. The councillor might make the request and based on the severity we try to see what can be granted. I have not heard any reports about out there for a long time now,” Shand said.

As it relates to the pond affecting the plumbing of residents, Shand said the pond should not impact that as the foundation in the community doesn’t allow for things below a certain depth to be built.

“You can’t build a septic tank or anything below a certain depth. Even the foundation there is raw foundation, [you] can’t build normal strip foundation things there,” he said.

Further, Member of Parliament for East Rural St Andrew, Juliet Holness in responding to the concerns of the residents, told the Sunday Observer that while she has not received any complaints, the pond is cleaned at least once and at most twice per year.

“They have had remedies over and over, year after year. They have not come to complain to me. Even when they do we get the opportunity to clean it twice per year. They have not come in the last four or five months since the last time we cleaned. There is no truth to the last two years. I have been the MP for four years and they have had several cleaning and at least one every single year,” Holness said.

Regarding the claim by Furlongue-Laver that she was blocked from Holness’ Twitter page, the East Rural St Andrew MP said she does not manage the account and as a result does not know about the situation or what led to it.

“I don’t manage my account so I don’t know about it at all. The only persons who are blocked from my account are persons who are rude, curse bad words and have nasty things to say. They can write to my office at 27 Gordon Town Road and everybody knows the number. It has not changed since election. It is 876-813-5017. That is how I communicate with my constituency,” she said.

Holness went on to explain the complexity of the situation, which she said costs millions of dollars each time an attempt is made to rectify the issue.

“What happens with Ocean Lake [is that] all the water that is coming down from the hillside fills the pond going out to the sea. I have asked the NWA (National Works Agency) for a permanent solution for years. It is a long-standing problem and I mean for many, many, many years. The persons who have built their homes, it is at a level that is lower than the sea level. So for some of the residents what they have done is to go up on their homes and disregard what was at the base so that they are above sea level. Each time the Government cleans that area it is running between $10 and $15 million just to open the mouth and clear so that the water goes out,” Holness said.

So is there no permanent fixture? Holness said: “Not to my knowledge.”

She continued, “The cost to be able to put up something like what you have out at Palisadoes is mammoth. With my limited knowledge I would believe that would be a longer transformation to put up.”

When checks were made with the NWA Communication and Customer Services Manager Stephen Shaw, he said the NWA does not have responsibility for Windward Close. However, work has been done in the Ocean Lake community before. Shaw further stated that the authority with responsibility is the KSAMC.

“The road of which you speak is not a main road. The NWA’s remit is related to the main road network. We have done work in the area in the past. However, these activities were done through specially allocated funds targeting that particular area. In such circumstances, the NWA does work in communities and on community roads,” Shaw said. “The competent authority in this regard is actually the KSAMC, which based on its mandate has responsibility for the road or roads in that area. This would include the cleaning of the drains. The NWA only acts is this regard on instructions in the context of a works programme that is usually fashioned through our parent ministry or some other source of funds.”

Moreover, Holness said some of these spaces were difficult for the Government to maintain and encouraged individuals to do the necessary research and checks before purchasing property and settling in certain areas.

“It costs more to maintain the space than what is present there. It is a very difficult thing. The Government has limited resources and everyone is clamouring for assistance at the same time. No matter what, where most of the residents live, where most of the residents traverse, it always make sense that you allocate resources there first and foremost,” she said.

“There are some persons who have gone to live in spaces that from the day they go there they realise it is challenging. I would want to encourage all Jamaicans to also play a part in getting the necessary information and having the knowledge and education about the spaces in which they buy property, in which they choose to live. Do the investigation so that you know what happens if it rains, you know what happens if a river is nearby. You also need to take a personal responsibility to the space,” she said.

Attempts to determine whether the community was ever approved for development proved futile as Shand said he would not be able to say and directed the query to the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA). The request from NEPA was acknowledged, however, an answer was not provided. However, the development is formal as residents are in posession of land titles.

Where general flooding in the area is concerned, the East Rural St Andrew MP said the long-term solution for that is expected to come from the development of the South Coast Highway.

“Not only in that area do we have a problem, several of the places that run along the Bull Bay stretch, overtime the highway, the road itself has gone higher than the community. With the South Coast Highway coming, a lot of those spaces been identified where you have flooding issues when it rains heavily or when the water comes down from the hills — the marl hills that they mine [or] what they call the gypsum hills. When the water comes down heavily there is sometimes nowhere for it to go because the drainage that goes to sea is not adequate in all of the spaces.

Sometimes when the water level rises it literally blocks water being transported to sea. The discussions have been had as it relates to the planning necessary to incorporate in lifting the highway and adjusting the highway for the communities that run along the road from Harbour View into St Thomas,” Holness said.