SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Kevin Steele, a maintenance worker at Morrison’s Variety Store, located at the centre of this busy south-central town, pointed to a large pool of water slowing motorised traffic to a crawl and blocking pedestrians.

“The road should dig up and they put in a new culvert … a bigger one,” a vehement Steele declared.

Motorists cautiously negotiated one side of the two-way street, avoiding water which completely covered the sidewalk opposite to Morrison’s, effectively blocking pedestrians.

Locals say that after heavy rain it sometimes takes days before all the water drains away.

Steele explained that the pond covered a blocked culvert which, in his view, was too small to carry the heavy volume of water.

A few metres away, affable sidewalk spice and vegetable vendor Barbara Campbell, already cramped for room, pressed back against a grilled enclosure to dramatise her predicament during heavy showers.

Sometimes her shoes got soaked when water covered the sidewalk, she said.

However, a chuckling Campbell claimed her problems in Santa Cruz were “minor matters” since her home in Bull Savannah, southern St Elizabeth, lost its roof during Hurricane Beryl’s devastating passage on July 3.

Flooding happens fairly regularly in Santa Cruz with rain water rushing through from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Upper Black River Morass at lower altitude, just behind the town.

Locals agree that if anything, the problem has gotten worse in recent years, especially in the buzzing, heavily trafficked commercial area close to Morrison’s on Main Street.

Residents and business operators say while flooding is also an inconvenience in other areas of Santa Cruz, the water drains away with relative speed elsewhere.

That’s although the town’s bypass road, often referred to as ‘Back Road’, which is closest to the Upper Black River Morass is chronically problematic.

Flooding in Santa Cruz came to the fore at the latest monthly meeting of the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation
— raised by Councillor Christopher Williams (Jamaica Labour Party, Santa Cruz Division).

Referring to happenings the previous evening, Williams argued that “It is unacceptable to have a main town, the largest town in the parish, and whenever it rains all the water just runs along the roadways… It is full time this is addressed…”

He recalled that on becoming an elected representative in 2016 he had been told by the National Works Agency (NWA) of “a drainage plan [for Santa Cruz] done many years ago but nothing had come of it…”

He called for a “serious collaborative effort” involving the NWA and the municipal corporation to find a solution.

For Williams, the flooding in the vicinity of Morrison’s Variety Store was particularly annoying and puzzling since, according to him, extensive drain cleaning had been done in that area over recent weeks.

“We (municipal corporation) have gone there with [the NWA] and no one seems to be able to identify and come up with a reason, but once up on a time that wasn’t the situation,” said Williams.

However, while Williams voiced puzzlement and Steele identified a blocked culvert, several local observers claimed a large shopping centre, down slope and behind Morrison’s and other business places on Main Street, was the main reason for the localised flooding.

Built just a few years ago, the spacious Fern Village shopping plaza has not only increased shopping options but has significantly eased traffic congestion in Santa Cruz because of its numerous parking spaces.

However, locals say its construction led to the blockage of natural drains, causing a back-up of water which, in the past, would have speedily rushed away to the morass
— nature’s sponge
— further down slope.

Member of Parliament for St Elizabeth North Eastern Delroy Slowley, among the town’s leading business operators, told the Jamaica Observer that his own checks had suggested that the new plaza had contributed to the back-up of water.

However, the reality was that a way would have to be found around the problem, said Slowley, who, like Williams claimed extensive drain cleaning had taken place recently.

“One of the major issues is trying to get word [including expert opinion from the NWA] on how to deal with [flooding],” he said.

Howard Hendriks, the NWA’s community relations officer for the southern region, identified the long-standing, comprehensive drainage plan referred to by Williams as a go-to solution not only for flooding at the centre of Santa Cruz but elsewhere in the town.

Finding the “enormous sum” to get the job done “might be a problem however”, Hendriks said.