KINGSTOWN (CMC):

Members of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Cricket World Cup (CWC) Local Organising Committee are to meet with their consultants, and contractors met yesterday to discuss the effect torrential rains have had on tournament venues in the country.

The team will be assessing the fallout from the heavy rains and ensuing flood waters that affected the island on Wednesday, the Local Organising Committee's CEO, Mike Findlay, said on Thursday evening.

Findlay said that while there appears to be no structural damage to the buildings at the main Arnos Vale Playing Field and the practice venue at the Sion Hill Playing Field, there was some flooding and damage to retaining walls.

No damage

"The project did not suffer any damage but the defence wall constructed by the government next to the river was partly removed along with part of the newly-constructed fence.

"We did have some water going into the area of the double-decker, but apart from that there was nothing major done to the construction," Findlay said.

"The Sion Hill Playing Field once again experienced some flooding but this is something which has to be dealt with by the government. We spoke to the engineers in the early stages of construction and were told that this situation would need a massive amount of work to remedy what is a long-time problem.

"The general area we were made to understand suffers from this type of condition ... that is, it is similar in nature to the airport, prone to flooding whenever heavy rains come," Findlay said. He said that over the next few days, they would sit with construction consultant Deidre Myers to determine the measures to be taken to combat future flooding and other related matters.

No flooding

Findlay said that the other practice venue at the Stubbs Playing Field - from early assessment - this time did not experience any flooding as was the case during last month's heavy rains.

The 5,000-seat double-decker stand is being constructed in an area less than 30 metres from the banks of the Wa Waru River that empties into the Great Head Sea. The alignment of the river was changed to accommodate construction of the EC$12 million (US$4.49 million) steel-based structure. Reports say knowledgeable and experienced contractors, who have lived in the area for more than seven decades, have been raising concerns with the move to change the flow and thereby narrowing the mouth of what they say is an unpredictable and sometimes erratic river.

Asked about this concern prior to construction, Myers had said at the time that "the realignment of the river was not going to be a problem because they had done the home work and are satisfied it is safe".

Reports say the realignment has been a nightmare to some persons living on the other bank as their homes were flooded for the second time in three weeks. They suffered similarly through heavy rains on November 24.