By Earyel Bowleg

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

MARINE WILSON of Stephenson, Cat Island, said she “lost everything” when floodwater rushed into her home on Sunday, forcing her and her family to flee barefoot as furniture floated outside.

Parts of North Cat Island remain waterlogged after heavy weekend rainfall left residents trapped in their homes and roads impassable.

Communities such as The Bluff and Bennett’s Harbour reported up to two feet of water, with several residents who travelled south unable to return home. Arthur’s Town Comprehensive School was closed yesterday as a result of the conditions.

Residents said the downpour began on Sunday.

Ms Wilson, 61, told The Tribune she was at home with her children when the rain intensified. She lives with her adult daughter and son, along with her five-year-old grandson.

“I say, you all have to get up,” Ms Wilson said. “The only thing I was able to do was throw my shoes and stuff on top of the bed. I had to run out bare feet. I make sure I get my documents and stuff, because I keep them in a bag. So I run with those. Man, I’ve been in this world 61 years, and I have never, ever seen that amount of water right here in the settlement.”

Ms Wilson said she waded through knee-high water for nearly 20 minutes to reach her blind brother’s house, which sits on higher ground, where she stayed the night.

When she returned home, she found most of her belongings destroyed.

“I had to take up all of those rugs and stuff. It was a lot. I still ain’t finished yet,” she said. “My drawers and bureaus are no good.”

Residents believe clogged drains worsened the flooding, an issue Ms Wilson agreed was partly to blame.

“We have about three to four cars stuck in The Bluff now that cannot move,” she said. “After the rain came and it get so hard, I had to fight to get my car out of the yard and over on a hill.”

Stacy Strachan, of Bennett’s Harbour, said the flooding was severe in some areas, with several people unable to return home.

She said the water in one area rose so high it covered a Suzuki jeep “up to the roof.”

“Some persons are able to pass the road because of the debris and the roadwork that is going on here,” Ms Strachan said. “There’s a lot of debris in the roadway. If you have a truck, they still not advising persons to pass — to stay indoors.”

Derrick Rolle, also of Bennett’s Harbour, said his home escaped flooding, but his bathroom plumbing was affected.

He said the water had started to subside as of yesterday, estimating that more than half the population of north Cat Island — from The Bluff to Orange Creek — was stuck in their homes.

“Yesterday we had a lady, a next-door neighbour, she went south and couldn’t get back,” he said. “The nurse leave to go back south and she couldn’t. Couple of cars on the side of the road — the water wouldn’t allow them to pass.”

The Bahamas Department of Meteorology reported that a frontal trough moving northwest through the country combined with a tropical wave to produce widespread showers and thunderstorms over the Central and Southeast Bahamas.