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Why
the whole island floods now
By
Gail Woon and David Rose
The
month of September 2004 marked the culmination of the worst fears
of the residents of Queen's Cove. After their houses were flooded
by Hurricane Floyd in September, 1999, their worst nightmares
came true with the arrival of the five-foot deep storm surge inside
their houses from Hurricane Frances, quite possibly the worst
hurricane to hit Grand Bahama in recent memory. Many families
lost everything they owned. Residents thought it was a freak occurrence,
an act of nature that would not happen again for another thirty
years.
Little
did they know that the 2004 hurricane season had something far
more damaging in store. After Frances, houses were destroyed,
lives shattered and people were left homeless. The emotional heartbreak
of facing the aftermath of another flood induced by the hurricane
was almost too much to bear. This time it was not just Queen's
Cove that was damaged severely. It was the whole island of Grand
Bahama.
Then
to add insult to injury, three weeks later while residents were
still reeling from Frances, Hurricane Jeanne changed course and
headed straight for Abaco and Grand Bahama Island once again.
Grand Bahama had not yet recovered from Frances and was hit again,
thankfully for a much shorter period.
With
unprecedented devastation in West End and East End and areas in
between, residents of Queen's Cove were initially left to fend
for themselves. Some residents returned immediately to try to
restore their homes. Many will never return. Some are still trying
to decide what to do and all are questioning why? Why does an
area that never flooded before 1999 suddenly become a moniker
for flooding and disaster?
Why
the western half of Grand Bahama Island floods:
The
floods will be more and more devastating as the years go by. No
one has verified the chain of events precisely but eons in the
past the lands of our country were almost non-existent and remained
submerged for tens of thousands of years, time, enough to grow
reefs and for significant etching of the Bahama Banks by the forces
of weather and the action of water all combined with the passage
of time.
Large
channels developed and reefs grew or did not depending on where
nature allowed it. One such deep channel formed along the reef
of Grand Bahama dividing the northwest end from the south east
end. Then at a prehistoric time still to be determined by carbon
dating The Bahamas lost a large group of big islands whose land
mass averaged 40 to 50 feet above sea level.
During
this time water and weather also etched the land and cut channels
deeper still into the stratum that forms the carbonate bed rock
of the underground The result of millions of years seasonal rains
turned The Bahamas into a honey comb of underground caverns and
channels. Water dripping formed stalagmites with a thickness of
up to 6 feet in diameter. Still later in recent times water has
again risen to transform The Bahamas into a large archipelago
with extensive shallow banks between islands.
Now
a channel etched by water and weather through two geological periods
again filled with water later to be named the Hawksbill Creek.
This waterway developed into one of the major routes for breeding,
and became a nursery for all sorts of marine life. Hatchlings
could safely find refuge in the creek as they traveled through
Hawksbill Creek to the safety of the shallow back waters of Grand
Bahama Island. Due to the shape of the island and its geographical
position on the Little Bahama Bank rising water from wind-driven
tidal surges can cause flooding.
Over
time certain ecological changes became evident. For instance the
tree line as it evolves from mangrove flat to dry scrub pine forest
has developed over years of random climate changes. Pine trees
don't find themselves in salt water very often and are not adapted
to high salinity. Some of the wind-driven water pressure is relieved
by water flowing through the island's caverns in underground streams.
But much of the water found its way through the channel of the
Hawksbill Creek.
In
the '50s Pine Ridge Lumber Company put a small road across Hawksbill
Creek by the harbour close to then Bahamas Cement. Then in 1956
a major road was created at the Fishing Hole. Until then the roads
flooded and water flowed straight through into the harbour. At
that time, one could swim to Billy Cay, a mangrove cay in the
Hawksbill Creek ecosystem with abundant caves underneath it.
Two
companies, Bahama Cement and Bahama Rock cordoned off the area
and completely filled Hawksbill Creek, to a width of a quarter
mile wide and a height higher than most of the real estate on
Grand Bahama. They filled in caves with sludge first which changed,
the physical landscape, both underground and above ground. Now,
when the wind blows from the north the water pressure against
the island forces flood waters through Hawksbill Creek which in
previous times would have emptied safely to the south.
Now
the blocked waters flood into a low area between Hawksbill Creek
gas station and the airport. It is easy to see that hurricane
flooding will be significantly reduced if the Hawksbill Creek
is reopened to relieve the blockage and allow safe passage of
water to the south shore. The perpetrators of this ill-advised
land fill that did this now have to bear the brunt that their
real estate, their industrial zone and airport will flood along
with innocent victims living in Queen's Cove.
Jim
Neill, householder in Queen's Cove suggested that "The Grand Bahama
Port Authority should buy out Queen's Cove."
Over
200 homeowners have been displaced by the flooding and wind damage
left by hurricanes, Frances and Jeanne and some will never return.
Additionally property values have suffered, tainted with the reputation
of sitting in a dangerous flood zone. The most important question
is: Who will take responsibility for the destruction of a living
wetland, caverns and a cave system? Finally we ask: Who gave the
persons/companies responsible for the damage the right or permission
to fill in Hawksbill Creek?
Nassau
Guardian and The Tribune, November 25, 2004
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