National Disaster Coordinator at the Office of Disaster Management (ODM,) Fitzroy Pascal
An update on a the destruction left in the wake of a trough system that drenched torrential rains over communities in the east and south-east of Dominica. And the public and private sector response to the disaster thus far, was the subject of a multi-stakeholder press conference, led by Prime Minister Dr. Roosevelt Skerrit this afternoon.
According to the country’s National Disaster Coordinator of the Office of Disaster Management (ODM,) Fitzroy Pascal, the severe weather event, which was forecasted by the Dominica Meteorology Service, who initially issued a Flash flood watch on Saturday, later upgraded to a Flash flood warning on Sunday, told the press conference that the trough system that impacted the island on Saturday, November 5th- to Sunday, November 6th, dumped in excess of 13 inches of rainfall along Dominica’s east coast.
14 inches of rainfall
Castle Bruce, he said recorded 14 inches of rainfall in that 24-hour period. “The heavy rainfall along the east coast resulting in flooding,” he said adding, “ there were 50 to 60 landslides along the east coast. As a result there were road blockages, some communities were cut off, for instance Petite Soufriere, Good Hope and San Sauver. We had persons initially trapped or stranded along the O’Delices-Rosalie Road, and unfortunately we had one death 58-year-old male, Edward Henson Durand.”
According to Mr Pascal the areas affected by the trough system stretched from the village of Wesley in the northeast to Delice in the southeast of the island to where heavy equipment operators were immediately dispatched from Saturday to regain access to the marooned communities and that on Sunday evening a search team comprising of Fire and Police personnel brought supplies to the stranded residents in O’Delice area where ten persons were stranded.
Logistical support
Pascal added that the Ministry of National Security, he said, has been tasked with providing logistical support, “that means that the deployment of water, medical supplies and general food supplies to the affected areas, particular Petite Soufriere, San Sauveur and Good Hope. We have been utilizing the Coast Guard vessels…and the DASPA pilot boats.” According to Pascal the pilot boats have been engaged in a number of sorties assisted by the fisher folks in these communities.
The National Disaster Coordinator told the briefing that food supplies are being distributed in the affected areas, “so far we have distributed supplies in terms of food for 800 people to last 5 days. That is just for the Petite Soufriere, San Sauveur and Good Hope area,” he said adding, “From today we have started distribution to the other affected areas like Castle Bruce, Tranto, Maupo, and from tomorrow we will be doing the Kalinago Territory and Atkinson, Grand Fond, Rosalie, Morne Jaune and Rivière Cyrique, and La Plaine La Ronde, Boetica and Delices. So we are covering the entire eastern communities of the island stretching from the Kalinago Territory, Atkinson to Delices in the South,” he told the briefing.
The Commonwealth of Dominica Police Force are providing security, and logistical support on the ground.
Source
Roosevelt Skerrit (2022). Available at: https://www.facebook.com/SupportRooseveltSkerrit (Accessed: 12 November 2022).
ALBERT WILLIAMS Reporting 
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