It’s too early to say if any public funds will be available to repair the extensive damage to some privately-owned neighborhood estate roads caused by last week’s heavy rains, Public Works Commissioner Daryl Smalls said Sunday in a telephone press conference.
“Some of the estate roads are impacting on public roads so some funding may be available,” he said.
Grants also may be available to help with the extensive work that will be required to fix the estate roads, Smalls added.
While areas across the territory suffered damage, the Coral Bay and Bordeaux areas of St. John were particularly hard hit with mud and rockslides.
Saturday night another big mudslide occurred on St. John’s Centerline Road along the section of the road that approaches Coral Bay. Smalls said the area is right below the Upper Carolina neighborhood that suffered several instances of undermined roads and mudslides.
Smalls said he will inspect that area as wells as others again Monday, but urged residents to drive carefully over the impacted area in Upper Carolina.
“And drive on the land adjacent to the hillside,” he said.
A mudslide at least 175 to 200 feet wide closed one of the Bordeaux spur roads near the Bordeaux communications tower, Smalls said. He said the road in that area is like soup, and residents put down boards so they could walk over it. Smalls said the boards promptly sank, but the residents have now put down pallets to help them get out of the area.
Smalls has no damage estimates but said his department is “still crunching the numbers.”
He provided an update for other areas in the territory.
On St. Croix, the landslide at LaVallee is cleaned up, Smalls said. At Enfield Green, Public Works Department crews created another access road for residents because the main road is blocked. He said this will suffice until a new permanent road is built to replace the one that washed out.
On St. Thomas, he said all roads are passable but flooding is still a problem in Smith Bay. Additionally, he said crews continue to work on Brookman Road.
“And Bolongo is another area of concern,” he said.
He said there is a major washout at Tutu Bay on St. Thomas.
Smalls indicated that on St. Thomas, a property owner began Sunday to excavate his land. He said that the Planning and Natural Resources Department immediately issued a cease and desist order.
“Our grounds are saturated so do not begin any earth work,” Smalls said.
He also urged homeowners to built retaining walls to keep the hillsides from washing away.
Public Works is in discussions with the Army Corps of Engineers to develop mitigation projects to prevent future rain-related damage, Smalls said.
Smalls said that the weekend’s sunny skies helped dry out the territory, but more rain could cause further problems.
He said that last week’s rains were worse than the ones in November 2003. That event also caused extensive damage.
