Taming the tides
Published:Sunday | October 10, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Brian Bonitto, Special Assignment Editor
Water, water everywhere ... but not enough to dampen the creativity of several Jamaicans who refuse to yield to Mother Nature's fury. Two weeks ago, the passage of Tropical Storm Nicole left 13 dead and J$15 billion in infrastructural damage throughout the island.
Water levels rose to dangerous levels in several communities, creating temporary waterholes and making roadways impassable. However, where motor vehicles failed to tread, substitute off-road modes of transport braved the stormy weather and made the rounds.
The perennial favourite - discarded refrigerators - found a new lease on life as they transported their human cargo with 'crew' in tow.
But, why are refrigerators so prevalent?
"They're not quite as good as they used to be," said Ernest Brown, who has been repairing them for 28 years. "Even the material that makes them are quite different from those of yesteryear."
Brown said today 'fridges' are most times made of aluminium and plastic, as opposed to steel.
"Any fluctuation in electricity will burn the motor quite easily," he said.
Why do they float?
"The inside carries injected foam; it's poured or sprayed in as a liquid and dries to a solid," he said. "It's also airtight."
In south St James, bamboo rafts - minus the seats - made the rounds.
"Some areas were flooded in this division but no injury or deaths," said Sergeant Clevert Foster, officer in charge of Cambridge Police Station.
He said sections of Copperwood, Bickersteth and Cambridge were flooded, while the Seven Rivers' main road can only accommodate single-lane traffic due to breakage.
"The water is now subsiding," he continued.
Foster, who was on duty during the recent rains, said he did not see any 'movements'.
"I have never seen rafting down here," Sgt Foster said. "There is nowhere to raft. And, we're far from the tourists areas."
New River residents in the Breadbasket Parish, St Elizabeth, were a bit more creative in weathering the storm.
Fashioned from empty drums and wood, a three-seater contraption made its way down the flooded streets.
"It employs a basic principle of physics ... the Archimedes principle," said Tamokie Burton, engineer at the Bureau of Standards Jamaica.
Burton said the apparatus speaks to the creativity and practicality of Jamaicans.
"It's making use of our environment and everyday life observations and using them to our advantage," the engineer said.
St Thomas residents, who braved the treacherous waters to cross into Kingston in the absence of the Bailey bridge, resorted to raw man-power.
A $100 fee covered a guide-assisted trek across the billowing waves. Doubling that amount entitled the 'passenger' a piggy-back ride through the turbulence.
What will they think of next?