For small island developing states (SIDS) like Grenada, the impacts of climate change are real and severe. Like other Caribbean SIDS, most of Grenada’s social and economic activities are located on the coast, with communities heavily reliant on marine related activities such as fishing.
Grenada’s east coast communities of Marquis, Soubise, Grenville, and Telescope are no different. These coastal communities have high levels of exposure to a range of climate change impacts including more frequent torrential rainfall that results in severe flooding – threatening homes, coastal commercial infrastructure, shorelines, and livelihoods.
For Patsy George, who resides in the community of Telescope, the impacts of flooding has gone unabated for so long that seeing her neighbours navigating through swampy conditions to get to and from their homes during the rainy season has become a normal occurrence.
“I have been living here for over 31 years now and whenever the rain falls, we continue to get a lot of flooding from the road. When the rain comes, with this water, we cannot pass because the area is normally full of water,” says Patsy as she points to a stagnant body of water next to her house.
Patsy stresses that the issue needs urgent attention, as in addition to other threats the area faces such as coastal erosion, her community’s way of life is being disrupted by the flooding from higher inland, which leads to water logged foundations that reduces the stability of their homes.
Mike Noel, another Telescope resident, also agrees that a solution to combat the problem of flooding is urgently needed.
“The flooding from the top side usually comes heavy and when it rains a lot what we see happen is that the drains are a little shallow, which causes flooding on the bottom side of the road,” he said.
In an effort to deal with the impacts of the area’s constant flooding, Mike has used his own money and resources to help his fellow community members. Using hired tractors, he has collected and dumped construction debris in areas known to be reservoirs for stagnant flood water, thereby creating water free paths for persons to traverse flood prone areas to get to and from their homes.
A few miles away in the community locally known as White Sand, Soubise, David Allard recalls witnessing several flooding events over the past few years that resulted in the beach being littered with debris from further inland, and the water quality and visibility of the bay being compromised.
“There are times when heavy rainfalls create a problem on the beach. The beach will normally be in a filthy state, and I am not talking about when the Sargassum seaweed is here.”
For Patsy, Mike and David, the issue of flooding in these areas of Grenville Bay is amplified by the sheer volume of water coming down from areas inland that are at higher elevations than their communities.
Poorly constructed drainage systems, which are not equipped to handle such large quantities of water, compounds the issue.
When asked for a possible solution to the flooding problem, David suggests that, “If you can cut off the volume of water from higher inland before it reaches the town in large volume, then that will help reduce the flooding.”
The Nature Conservancy (TNC), an environmental organisation whose office is based in Old Fort Road, St. George’s, aims to do just that.
Through a project called, “Building community resilience to reduce flood risk in Grenada”, TNC aims to work with upland farming communities in Marquis, De Blandeau, La Digue, Harford, and areas surrounding Grenville Bay to implement actions that will reduce the risk of flood events affecting downland coastal communities.
The project is supported by a wider regional initiative called “Karayib Klima”, a Unite Caribbean project funded by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME), and Fondation de France.
Project activities will be guided by the development of flood risk models using local rainfall, elevation, and other relevant data collected from local government agencies. These models will help guide the prioritisation of locations where nature-based solutions will be implemented to reduce the amount of water flowing down mountainsides during heavy rainfall.
Some of the interventions that have been proposed under the project include constructing water catchment ponds that will store large amounts of water and planting stabilising vegetation along riverbanks to slow down water and reduce erosion.
These flood mitigation interventions will complement and work in tandem with other initiatives that TNC is implementing in the Grenville area such as the ‘At the Water’s Edge’ and ‘Resilient Islands’ projects.
TNC is working closely with the Ministry of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Climate Resilience, and the Environment, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Forestry on these projects. Together, these efforts will support improved watershed management, coastal zone management and flood risk mitigation while improving people’s daily lives.
TNC hopes that with the implementation of these projects Patsy, Mike, David, and their fellow neighbors will all have a drier path to home.
NB: Farmers and other community members from Marquis, De Blandeau, La Digue, Harford and other areas surrounding Grenville Bay interested in being involved in the project can contact Mr Andre Joseph-Witzig at 473 420-3265 or via email at a.joseph-witzig@TNC.org.