What is the long-term plan to address flooding in Lucea?

THE EDITOR, Madam:

For several years, heavy rainfall has led to major flooding in Lucea, affecting businesses, leaving people stranded, stuck on traffic, on the brink of being swept away and resorting to a boat ride to get to dry ground. People will normally wait hours for the water to subside to pass through the town.

Lucea is a major corridor that connects to Westmoreland and St James and affects everyone. The hope would be that there are not just talks about cleaning Riley River from the Bamboo build-up or cleaning the drains but to look beyond to help the town.Lucea is a very small coastal town that is below sea level and surrounded by hilly communities. Therefore, the town will inevitably flood when it rains heavily. By virtue of its location, it is prone to water from rising sea levels and water running from communities on surrounding hills such as Malcolm Heights.

There have been talks about having a by-pass for the town; I am uncertain of which route would be used or if a new road would be created. While this is helpful to get persons living outside the town to their destination, we do not know what the status of this project is. How soon are we looking to have this done? This is becoming a nuisance. As for the businesses and people living in Lucea as well as other Hanovarians who must access the town to get home to neighbouring communities, what are the other plans?

We have seen many parishes adopt redevelopment plans by relocating businesses to the outskirts of the town because the current location has outgrown its space. We have seen Fairview in Montego Bay, Hendon in Savanna-la-Mar, Falmouth, Ocho Rios, and many other towns that have accommodated new growth and development. This model can be adopted for Lucea.

If businesses are relocated and a stop is placed on plans for new buildings in the already crammed space, this could allow the stakeholders to focus on what can be done to not only mitigate flooding but save what is left of the historic capital.

TONI-SHAE DINHAM