Flooding Forces Evacuations and Road Closures in Burrell Boom Village

Floodwaters in Burrell Boom Village continue to rise, prompting widespread evacuation and road diversions. The relentless flooding is attributed to water surging down the river, spilling into the valley and inundating homes and roadways. Residents have been forced to leave their properties as the water levels show no signs of receding. Road access to Burrell Boom is currently impossible as vehicles are unable to navigate the submerged roads. Love News spoke with village councilor of Burrell Boom, Ellis Metzgen, who spoke on the adjustments being made by villagers. 

Ellis Metzgen, Councillor, Burrell Boom: “The water is still coming up but it has slowed down a bit the rate at which it was coming up. You know we were getting nearly about ten to twelve inches per day and we checked it yesterday and the day before and the measurements were the same over on the bypass side but on the side where the police station is it rose another three inches. So we’re assuming from that it shows consistency on the bypass side because it’s probably entering deeper in the pine ridge over on that side so the water is running off therefore not showing an increase in depth or accumulation on the bypass itself because its running further back into the ponds and stuff further back in the pine ridge. Natural phases you’d take in evaluation you know ? Getting them informed and ready and making sure that they have the necessary stuff to be able to come into the shelters. We were communicating with NEMO that in the event that more families needed to go into the shelter then we would utilize one of the schools now in order to house these extra individuals.”

Despite the efforts of the village council in relocating individuals, some have still chosen to remain in the area. The council sends timely updates to persons in the village but still they are seeing issues of vehicles traveling through the water

Ellis Metzgen, Councillor, Burrell Boom: “We have a chat for numerous people in the village and the sub communities. So when me and my team and the other guys go and do our depth reading I give them a detailed report as to the depth of the water and then I just tell them you know let’s also wait on NEMO so that they verify these information and stuff and they put out their post from the Government Press Office and stuff. So the people are notified it’s not like they’re lacking in information but I believe sometimes people just like to test things for themselves and in the longer run they end up costing themselves significantly with losses in assets, fixing vehicles every time, having to be passing through those depths of water is very costly. So on our part we try to do what we need to do in order to keep the villagers informed but I mean you’ll always have people that are willing to push the limits. So right now the water is still going up. When it decides to peak and crest we don’t know how long the water will remain stagnant in an area until everything comes from Haul Over Bridge into the sea. But as soon as water stats receding and we’re able to start traversing through the roads accordingly then we need to start focusing on getting these families back out of the shelter and back into their homes but there are steps to that as well. Like in assessing damages and seeing if they’re able to move back in after a bit of cleaning and such or if there was significant damage to their homes and to their properties.”
 

Further updates will be provided as the situation develops. Residents are advised to stay tuned to NEMO updates and follow directives from emergency personnel.