Residents call for clean-up of Cane Grove

Residents of the South Leeward community of Cane Grove are requesting the help of the Roads, Buildings and General Services Authority (BRAGSA) to clean up their community, which suffered significant damage during the floods two weeks ago.{{more}}

At a BRAGSA press conference yesterday, head of Cane Grove Community Watch Louis Providence voiced the concern of the residents.

Providence stated that although they were told that BRAGSA would visit the area, the agency has not done so as yet.

“We have extensive damage there. Just about every single property in that development has serious damage. All the houses were flooded, including my own. I had about six to eight inches of sand on my front porch. In my garden, there was about two to three feet of sand,” the resident said.

“So far, we haven’t seen anybody from BRAGSA come to do anything. All the drains, all the fences; the concrete fences are all down, which have fallen into the drains, where the drain is between two fences. They’re all blocked up and I’ve cleared mine…but all the drains are still blocked. If we have a good rainfall again, there could be even more serious damage.”

The neighbourhood watch president opined that someone in an official capacity should have already visited and informed the residents about what was going to be done with respect to their neighbourhood.

He added that residents now have to pay someone $6,000 for clearing the debris that was deposited in the roads.

“We said we’d organize someone with a bobcat and a truck to clear the road and that was $6,000 he charged. That was only to clear the mud and the silt from the roads. I told them not to pay anything, because I live on the end and there’s still quite a bit of debris outside my gate, so until I’m satisfied that the roads are properly cleaned, he wouldn’t get any money. However, most of the residents have paid privately to clean up the silt from their yard,” Providence revealed.

Chief executive officer, Deirdre Myers apologized to Providence and explained why BRAGSA has been unable to work in the area.

“Because of the particular situation with Buccament and the loss of lives, it was not prudent for us to move in with heavy equipment until they had done their recovery process of the bodies,” she said.

“I think that is completed now and BRAGSA will come in to deal with the problems in the entire Buccament area that was impacted by the storm”.

Kenyatta Alleyne, manager of Infrastructure, added that BRAGSA began work in the area, yesterday (Monday) morning.(BK)