URBAN CAMPING UNPLANNED – ALMOST – STRANDED BY FLOODWATERS

On a weekday morning, just ahead of rush hour traffic, the drive form May Pen to Harbour View takes an hour and fifteen minutes. On a weekday afternoon going into evening, the time goes up to two hours.

69 Km route from May Pen in the west to Harbour View which is east of the city of Kingston

 But the week had days of poor weather, a Tropical Storm Watch was still in place, schools were suspended for the day, so my assumptions were:

– The weather was improving

– Traffic would be lighter than normal

– Peak hour would be earlier than normal as people would want to get home earlier

– The roads would be clear.

If these were true, then the journey would be no longer than 2 hours or at most two and a half. This is the story of how that journey became 6 hours long.

So I left Harbor View promptly at 5pm on Friday November 17, and expected to go through the city and to get to its western exit at 6 pm. I had a slight discomfort as the rain had resumed and the road to the city is not particularly well drained. However, luck was on my side and I was able to get near to downtown Kingston in a few minutes. And this is where the trouble began on two fronts.

Route was to bypass the heart of the city by staying near to the coast. Area in the circle is Tinson Pen

Firstly, the road was flooded. Section of Port Royal Street had close to a foot of water. Everyone was creeping and trying to find the less shallow patches of road. It was slow going. I was a bit worried. I drive a Toyota Vitz and these are the water handling stats:

Height to lowest set of connectors in engine compartment 10”

Height to door seals 11”

Height to alternator 19”

These refer to standing water. With movement and splashing, water could easily get higher than anticipated.

The second and even more worrying concern, was the rivers that were running from the right down onto Port Royal Street. These were at fairly decent speeds. In a small car, you get used to a slight shift when a truck with a 40ft container speeds past, but the feeling of water pushing the car sideways is quite uncomfortable. So at Hanover, East, Duke Church and King Streets, I braced and wished that I had sandbags or some overweight passengers. There was a bit of a challenge with water depth and KFC traffic at King Street, but I got through and was on Marcus Garvey Drive fairly quickly.

Bonded warehouse for new vehicles adjacent to the Tinson Pen Aerodrome

Next target was the Tinson Pen area where there are bonded vehicle warehouses and an aerodrome.It was smooth sailing all the way past Petrojam, but then the traffic just stopped. I contemplated Spanish Town Road, but thought that not being able to see the road surface if it was flooded, I could become a victim of the many craters that were on its lower section. By this time it was starting to get dark. As we got closer to the port entry, we realized that the opposite side of the road was flooded and more than likely we would not be able to go straight through.

Newspaper photo of a previous flood event on Marcus Garvey Drive

I realized that I was caught in the Big Pond. This is the body of water that accumulates in the Tinson Pen area after sustained rainfall. It has been a feature of the area for decades and my first experience of it was in the mid 1980s.

But there was no turning back at this stage. On the right, we could see many of the new vehicles in the bonded warehouses flooded to the extent that water would have been inside and perhaps up to seat level. The area is famous for flooding.

Lower section of the Tinson Pen “Big Pond”. This type of flooding has been common for decades despite several engineering interventions

We plodded on and I got to the intersection of 9th Avenue by about 6:15. It rained intermittently. The Police were in control of the intersection and traffic was being allowed to leave the port to head to the downtown area, but all traffic to the west was at a standstill. There was short stocky bald headed officer who had 6 or seven much younger constables with him. They were dauntless and were splashing back and forth through the water. Not all had raincoats, but that did not seem to matter.

Persons had the option to brave the high water on the opposite side and return to East Avenue. I had grave doubts that the Vitz could manage and opted to stay put. So did many other persons who wanted to leave the city. We were not in any immediate danger and the plan was to stay put until the water ran off and then proceed. This could be at midnight or even early on Saturday morning – we had no idea.

Intermittent rain while stuck in traffic

By 7:30 things got quiet. The traffic was still not moving, persons had turned off engines and lights and the only sound was that of the water which had now risen a bit, rushing along the roadway. I was settled for the night. This reminded me very much of night camping with my family in the rain, only this was much better as the tents always leaked. I was in the middle of the intersection directly under the traffic lights which had a steady rhythm – 40 seconds 9^th Avenue, 60 seconds Marcus Garvey Drive. I have slept in tents all over the island. Sleeping in a car on Marcus Garvey Drive would be an addition to my outdoor activity list.

Water flowing past parked cars at the intersection of Marcus Garvey Drive and 9th Avenue

So doors locked and a slight crack in the passenger window, I reclined the seat, turned off the radio and decided to go to sleep. But sleep would not come easily as I was very hungry. I had a liter of water with a little ice and a finger of banana. These made a difference and I drifted off into a deep and comfortable sleep.

I was awakened by a knocking on the window. The policeman in charge of the operations told me that that would not allow anyone to spend the night there. They had gone back to East Avenue and had cleared the unflooded lane that we were in, so as to allow us to return to East Avenue. The time was about 10pm. The other side of the road with the new cars was still flooded.

Flooded cars in Tinson Pen bonded warehouse

I returned to East Avenue and braved it up Maxfield Avenue to Half Way Tree. The water was very heavy and there was a lot of debris on the road. In Half Way Tree, my focus again became food, but everywhere seemed to have been closed and no food vendors were anywhere. The gas station at the intersection of Molynes Road and Washington Boulevard was my refuge. I got to May Pen shortly after 11 pm.

Lessons Learned

– Expect the unexpected, especially when it comes to weather

– Always have at least half a tank of gas

– Always have a spare tyre. I drove over so much debris going up Maxfield Avenue. Any sharp piece of metal or even glass could have stopped me dead in my tracks.

– Always have food in the car! A tin of Vienna sausages and a pack of tough crackers would have been so welcomed. I will get them and put in a sturdy container near to the spare wheel, so that next time I will have something to eat.

– A raincoat and umbrella are useful to have. If there is space, heavy boots would also be a good addition to a roadside emergency kit.

– Search the lunch bag carefully. I was convinced that it was empty, but when I got home, my wife asked why I never had the tangerine which was very there in the bag all along.

POSTSCRIPT

The police did a remarkable job on both traffic control and ensuring security for the persons that were stranded. Had they left, we could have been the target of marauders with nefarious intent. I did not record the number of the service unit on the site and so on Thursday I stopped by Hunts Bay to try to find the persons who were there and to express appreciation. Hunt Bay did a Shaggy – It wasn’t me and directed me the Newport West Police Station from which the team operated. I must express a great deal of gratitude to Detective Sergeant Garrick and his team, for their efforts that night. It was dark, it was raining for a lot of the time, and they were walking in water. Not all of the motorists were cooperative and the not all of the vehicles were cooperative. There was an old white flatbed Leyland, which has seen better days and which took forever to make the turn from 9^th Avenue onto Marcus Garvey Drive. It spluttered, it stalled, it kept shutting off and had very little steering ability to the right and had to partially climb the median in order to complete the turn. The team (many of the constables seemed under 20) worked well and seemed to have been undeterred by the driving rain. It really was a demonstration of the mantra – To Serve and Protect.