The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A Coral Harbour resident is seeking help for the area’s long-standing flooding issues, a problem that resurfaced due to New Providence’s recent rainy weather.

Long-time local Charles Hall said the substantial rain over the past few days left the road in an “unholy mess”. Mr Hall said the neighbourhood’s road by Humming Way Plaza has historically been known to flood.

He said he reached out to Ministry of Works’ officials and even National Security Minister Marvin Dames as the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) has a base in Coral Harbour and the officers have to drive through the water when it floods.

Mr Hall said he was assured the matter would be passed on to Ministry of Works officials to have the issue fast tracked, but he said the situation has not been rectified.

The flooding is said to have become aggravated by a newly built subdivision.

“The subdivision has a 50ft setback of the verge for its perimeter wall and the setback was landscaped by the developer that was intended to be like little ponds that he was going to put waterfalls or something but in doing out these ponds along the edge of the road and the setback, the surface of the verge is now higher than the road surface and that’s on the eastern side of the road,” said the resident.

Compounding the issue is the previous government’s action six months before the last election on the western side of the road. Mr Hall said the previous administration put in a sidewalk/bicycle path from the towers of Coral Harbour all the way to the beach.

“They did it without any consideration of existing swales or ditches that had been dug (years ago) to facilitate drainage along the perennially flooding roads and the sidewalk or jogging path was raised or elevated above the normal level of the verge...”

Water is being trapped on the road as it can’t be absorbed into the asphalt, he said. The water splashing creates “mighty great holes” in the road, he said.

“Some of these holes if you’re in a Nissan Cube or small Japanese car you could easily break an axle and traffic is reduced to one lane because everybody drives in the middle of the road – considered the shallowest piece.

“It will come up to your car door if you’re in a regular Japanese or American car... and that’s if you’re in the middle of the road. If you go along the edge of the road in the lane you are supposed to be in, it will come through your door.

“What’s happening now is people are using the jogging path drive through to avoid the holes and the flooding and to avoid the congestion because of the one lane of traffic and so it’s become a nightmare and we need help.

“They can’t keep up with patching with the rains consistently coming two or three times a week.

“The roads never get dry and the holes just get bigger and we’ve got the jogging path eroding.”

Mr Hall said residents have asked officials for help, but nothing has been done.

“We’ve spoken to the FNM government since they’ve been in power... and we’ve seen the surveyors out here surveying the road they now have plans to reconstruct portions of the road to alleviate the flooding, but it never happened,” he told The Tribune.

“Recently with the onset of the rain within the last several weeks I called civil design at the (Ministry of Works). I had spoken to a gentleman who was a senior person in that department. “He came out here, met with a couple of the residents and walked… the area.”