Flooding nightmare adds to COVID stress

Michelle Hanna, a single mother, swept water out of her one-room apartment on Saffron Street in Pinewood Gardens yesterday as her daughter rinsed their clothes, which had been soaked in rainwater, in their flooded bathroom.

“All of my clothes are wet up; I have to go to the wash house now because I don’t have any more clothes. I can’t put them on because they all messed up,” Hanna said.

However, wash houses on New Providence were closed during the weekend lockdown, put in place in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19 on New Providence.

All residents with the exception of essential workers were ordered confined to their homes and yards.

Hanna noted, “The PS4 (PlayStation 4) and the television stopped working because water [has] gone in all of them. When I woke up, the water was already in here. When I [came] out the bed and rested my foot on the floor, I was shocked. I was resting it in water.”

Hanna said she was concerned about getting electrocuted because the water was nearly as high as her surge protector.

“I really want to get out, but there’s nowhere to go,” she said.

Flooding is nothing new for Pinewood residents, who have endured the problem for years after heavy downpours. Yesterday’s flood, however, came at a time when many Pinewood residents are stressed by the hardships created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hanna, who is 52 and unemployed, said the flooded home was a breaking point for her. She said she was given an eviction notice in March and is unsure how she is going to make it through. However, she said her landlord has been lenient for the most part.

“I have a lot of stress, now this,” said Hanna, who began to cry.

“I don’t have a job right now. I just doing my hustle to try make ends meet. It isn’t easy; it’s hard. These the kinds of things [that] cause people to trip out and have a mental breakdown. The other day when I called the lady [at] Social Services, I told her I feel like jumping off the bridge.”

An elderly woman, who has been living in Pinewood Gardens over 30 years, also said when she woke up yesterday morning her feet were completely submerged in rainwater.

“We weren’t expecting this rain this morning because it wasn’t [a] hurricane,” Pearl Henfield told The Nassau Guardian.

“The last time this was like this was Hurricane Dorian. The water [doesn’t] come through the door; it comes up from under the floor. As long as the yard is flooded, water will come up from under there. The roof [is] leaking and ready to fall out in here.”

Henfield said severe flooding over the years has damaged items in her house.

“When I first got this house I didn’t know it [floods],” Henfield said.

“I already lost three doors since I was living here. I can’t do no more; I’m just tired. I had three refrigerators; they’re gone. That’s a new fridge up there and I have it up high, so it won’t get damaged. I can’t even cook dinner in here today; you could see that.”

Henfield, who said she suffered a stroke a few years ago, told The Nassau Guardian Pinewood residents have been overlooked for years by representatives.

“I’m frustrated and angry, angry, angry,” she said.

“I can’t take no more of this. The drain is not working good down there. I don’t know what happened. I was asking the government from that time to put a drain in front of my house. I don’t know why they don’t want [to] spend this money on the people in Pinewood.”

She added, “If we have more rain, the police [are] going to have to lock me and my children up because we have to get up out here. In here will be worse than it is now.”

Ericka Clarke-Jean, who lives on Saffron Street, said the heavy flooding in the area has made her entire household hazardous. Eleven children live in the house.

“Year after year the water comes in the house,” Clarke-Jean said. “This is Saffron Street and nobody does anything about it.

“….BPL has not turned off the electricity yet and water is already in the house. Could you imagine with this water in the house and these kids get electrocuted in this house? They [are] standing up in the water. We have to sleep in this.”

She said the situation is vexing as residents have been complaining about this issue for years.

“People passing up and down in the car and the water just pushes more into the house and it’s bad,” Clarke-Jean said.

“We have been killing roaches, rats and centipedes all morning [that are] in the water. I don’t know what the government plans to do with Pinewood, but they need to fix the drain.”

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/flooding-nightmare-adds-to-covid-stress/