Cabo Rojo Community - Car Nearly Covered by Flooding Reportedly Caused by Unremoved Debris in Nearby Drainage Canal

With the heavy rains in Puerto Rico from the passing Tropic depression, many communities experienced major flooding. In fact, one small neighborhood near the Cabo Rojo pueblo might have reminded many onlookers of the sinking of the mythological city of Atlantis… or if you want to use a realistic modern day comparison, how about a tiny reminder of the Katrina travesty that sunk major parts of New Orleans.

Well – you are right in saying this was nothing like Katrina. Of course not. However, if something like a Tropical depression and heavy rainfall can wash out many Puerto Rican neighborhoods, we’re going to be in big trouble when one of those hurricanes that always pass by waving “Hello”, decide to finally make landfall.

Maybe there is nothing much we can do to avert disaster when Mother Nature decides it’s finally time to blast the island. However, if you read Gil the Jenius’ blog, you’ll be aware that he attributes much of the major flooding in his neighborhood to be because of (surprise, surprise) garbage… or, more specifically, the municipalities negligence in removing it. FYI – I’m not quoting here; I’m interpreting.

Here is the Jenius summary of the major contributing factor to the flooding. Check out his full account here.

The water crested at 35 inches. The cause was the drainage canal that runs behind My house. Not that the canal failed: It never reached halfway up its 16-foot walls. The problem was a quarter mile away, where the natural canal becomes a concrete half-tunnel. Since June, residents in My area had been asking for the City to clean out debris and garbage at the transition point, where dirt walls become cement slabs.

Not so tough to imagine in Puerto Rico is it? A drainage ditch heavily filled with trash and debris… Not very uncommon at all. My hope is that someone will hold the municipality accountable, if it is in fact determined that they were negligent in not cleaning out the drainage canal.

Gil sadly lost a big portion of his book collection, along with other important artifacts of his family, and some irreplaceable items included. But he was not the only one affected, nor the worst of the victims.

Flooded out Neighbors in Cabo Rojo Drive Sea Doos in the Street

This same neighborhood were you see a Sea Doo zipping up the street, a car almost covered, and a person drenched knee deep in the filty water near the shallows, is also the site where an elderly lady was trapped inside her house and feared that she was going to dye. Fortunately, a young neighbor heard her screams and went in to get her out of the house. And let’s be realistic: you can drown in a bowl of soup.

This lady had legitimate concerns, had she accidentally fallen into the water. When the neighbor asked her if she wanted to grab anything in particular for comfort or to save from the water, she declined. She just wanted to live.

All this because a drainage ditch was not cleaned out of trash?

Contrast this with the scene at the Santuario de Animales San Francisco de Asis, where the lone animal caretaker had to wade in almost neck deep water often time crawling with roaches and centipedes to get to some dogs in the outer kennels that were about to drown. For those of you concerned, she was able to make it back to the main kennel with each dog one by one before the water rose high enough that they would have drown. Of course, the water also took out some of the dog food supply for a shelter that barely achieves enough donations to subsist, month to month.

Man Wades Through Filthy Water in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico Flooded Community

It was bad in a lot of places in Puerto Rico. That tropic depression dropped a lot of rain. Let’s hope that all of the municipalities and all related government officials start taking these matters seriously, and start improving Puerto Rico’s infrastructure island wide… Otherwise, Puerto Ricans might as well just move to the mainland and let the Isla de Enchantment sink into the next Atlantis.

The Insider

References

The Jenius Gets Flooded in Cabo Rojo

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