|
|
|
 |
|
|
Officials tour French side to assess damage wrought by weekend floods
by The Daily Herald
Posted: Aug 2, 2005 16:26 UTC
|
MARIGOT - First Deputy Mayor Jean-Luc Hamlet, members of the Commune’s technical services, Direction Departmental de L’Équipement (DDE) and the chief of police, toured the French side on Sunday, visiting homes and businesses to gain an insight into the extent of damage caused by Saturday’s cloudburst.
Hamlet convened an emergency meeting in the Mairie yesterday morning with Secretary General of the Sous-Préfecture Ambroise Devaux, officials of Semsamar, and disaster preparedness managers to assess the situation and outline a recovery plan.
The first priority, Hamlet noted, had been to ensure the entire road network on the French side was clear so that technical services could operate freely. This was accomplished Sunday by opening the road between French Quarter and Marigot, parts of which had become blocked with debris.
Second, all known guts or ravines need to be inspected to make sure they are clear so water can run freely. This is being carried out by Semsamar and technical services.
The third phase of the assessment is a sanitary one and entails organising a survey of drinking water quality, checking cisterns and removing any pools of possibly contaminated floodwater away from playing children, as well as any dead animals. This is also in process.
Finally, the fourth part of the assessment process is to distribute materials such as beds, clothing and food to homes that have been worst affected. This was put into motion as of Monday afternoon. An office has also been opened in the Mairie to respond to residents in need of help.
“I have to congratulate the population, because instead of waiting for us they have already started cleaning up,” said Hamlet. “Families told us they have not seen such high water since Hurricane Lenny. Some of the homes we saw had been flooded with up to two metres of water.”
Hamlet said emergency pumps at the Mairie had been unable to cope with such a high volume of water falling at a rapid rate, causing some shops to be flooded in Marigot, and these pumps need to be updated.
He added that it was too early to provide an overall cost of the damage caused by the rain. It will take a few days and businesses and homes have been asked to provide estimates of damages to the Mairie.
However, residents will have to wait up to three months before they can receive any money from their insurance claims. St. Martin first has to be officially declared a disaster area before insurance companies can pay out on claims.
“We are gathering all the documentation, together with a report from the Meteorological Office, so that Government can classify this event as a natural disaster,” Hamlet added. “The document then goes to the Council of Ministers in Paris and we should get the confirmation back about a month from now.”
Disaster Management Coordinator Felicien Maccow, who lost his niece to the floods on the Dutch side, said the severity of the cloudburst was unexpected, but remained confident in the disaster plan for the rest of the hurricane season.
“The plan has been tested several times since 1995 and it’s renewed annually. We believe everything is ready and in place, but with unforeseen circumstances you can never really prepare to the maximum,” Maccow said.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Content © The Daily Herald 2005 - All Rights Reserved.
You may bookmark this web page, print it or e-mail it to
a friend in accordance with the fair-use provisions of
copyright laws. The material is intended solely for the use
of the individual user.
Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this
material
on other terms, in any medium, requires the express
written permission of the author or publication and the
notification of the editors of Caribseek News. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
