EDITORIAL: An inconvenient truth facing Old Harbour after Elsa's flooding

But it also laid bare an existential reality known for quite some time that our storm drain infrastructure has outlived its usefulness.

Going by what we observed in those amateur videos of our town centre inundated with water at knee height, it is obvious that a massive overhaul of the drainage system is paramount now more than ever.

This without question should be a matter of high priority for those seated at the wheels of power, given the rapid development taking place in Old Harbour, cited on numerous occasions by government officials as the fastest growing town in the country. 

Years of improper or inadequate spatial planning has led us to where we are today. And Old Harbour is at a stage in its development where we can ill-afford kicking the proverbial can down the road. For if we do, the collateral damage to potential life and the local economy will be catastrophic in all likelihood. 

Yes, the deluge from Elsa's outer bands would have probably caused flooding anyway, but the town these days is too easily transformed into streams of rivers during average rainfall.

The communities of New Harbour Village are the perfect example of modern storm drains engineering at its finest. None of these communities reported flooding despite being at lower sea level than the town square, which is set to welcome some 60,000 new residents by the year 2040 based on several pre-approved housing solutions already in the pipeline. This means more concrete structures, an increase in water runoff whenever it rains, which also means flooding is highly probable in the years ahead if nothing is done now.

The business community, civil society,  and elected government officials must commence discussing the way forward to solving this problem because the reality is we all are facing an inconvenient truth that none of us can hide from. Fix the problem now will certainly inconvenience a lot of us, but is there a better time than now? The government may not tell the public of the massive economic loss businesses along Hagley Park Road and Portia Simpson Miller Square (Three Miles) endured in the last few years during a major redevelopment of that corridor. Those of us in business, however, know that if this expansion was done say 20 years ago, the economic loss would have been a whole lot less to business operators and the economy.

Old Harbour must do everything not to repeat this glaring problem staring us in the face and should endeavour to correct it by being proactive now.