Massive clean-up drive in Canouan

by Christina Smith

A massive clean-up campaign is underway in Canouan with residents of all ages jumping on board to put the pieces back together after Hurricane Beryl.

SEARCHLIGHT visited the Southern Grenadine island on Wednesday, July 10, 2024, where more than 100 residents were hard at work piling damaged galvanize, broken tree limbs, and other debris left by the Category 4 hurricane onto trucks to be transported to dump sites.

One resident explained to SEARCHLIGHT that the teams work in shifts, some from as early as 7 am and they are being compensated at a rate of between EC$125 to $150 per day. A private individual who resides on Canouan also is said to be providing financial support to facilitate the work. In his weekly Wednesday appearance on NBC radio this week, the prime minister spoke of a private individual on Canouan who is providing US$15 million to help with the clean up in the Grenadines.

Restaurant owner, Glendine Laidlow, who operates P & G Soul Food, has taken on the task of feeding as many as 400 persons each day including workmen, elderly persons confined to their homes, and others who are without facilities to cook. The number of persons who require meals is collected at the start of the day, and a team of up to a dozen volunteers prepare the meals and take them out across the island.

Electricity and running water are still unavailable on Canouan, and residents are primarily using generators, some belonging to homeowners and business owners, and others that have been donated by a private investor on the island.

The clean-up of Union Island and Mayreau, both of which sustained extensive damage from Beryl, requires significant man-power, and Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves said the call has been put out for workmen to come on board on both islands. Clean-up work is expected to advance significantly soon through three private contractors, and materials and machinery to reach the island in the coming days.

“I have asked BRAGSA to start hiring people who are on the ground to come on board with the clean-up.” The prime minister added that residents who had been previously evacuated would also need to return to be part of the clean up and rebuilding.

One thousand tarpaulins have been ordered to cover damaged roofs, in addition to two 40-tonne trucks from Grenada to transport supplies and other materials around the islands, as well as additional generators.

“There are some buildings down there that you can put tarpaulin on and people can stay in them. You would see the beginnings this week coming of these things,” Gonsavles said.

As the clean-up and rebuilding work gets underway, the prime minister said the government has considered relocating students and teachers to the mainland for the upcoming school year as island-wide, electricity restoration will not be feasible until sometime in 2025. He said the old Richmond Gabriel University has been identified as a likely location for primary and secondary school students.

“We are not going to have back electricity and have things where the children will be able to go to school by September so we are going to have to bring them up.”