No more festival – BVI crippled by rainfall

All emancipation festivities have been scrapped as the British Virgin Islands (BVI) has been crippled by less than 24 hours of heavy continuous rainfall – not a tropical storm or hurricane.

Flash flooding on Monday left several houses and businesses flooded, and multiple roads damaged.

Providers of basic utilities – especially the Water and Sewerage Department – have been left in a tailspin.

So far, this media house has not seen any official word from the government headed by Premier Dr D Orlando Smith about the wide-scale damage.

There has been no report of any death.

The rain stayed at bay yesterday (August 8), but the local Department of Disaster Management (DDM) said more rains are in the forecast.

That is among the reasons the Virgin Islands Festival and Fairs Committee said it opted to cut the emancipation festival almost a week short.

Parade, Rise and Shine cancelled

In a statement overnight, the Committee’s Public Relations Officer Lynette Harrigan said: “After the assessment of the damage incurred due to the storm, and in consultation with DDM about the rest of the week’s forecast, the Virgin Islands Festival and Fairs Committee made a conscious decision to postpone the activities in East End and Carrot Bay.”

“The Rise and Shine [Tramp] scheduled for Wednesday morning at 3am has been cancelled as well as the Road Town parade which was rescheduled for Saturday,” the festival committee said, adding that it apologizes for any inconvenience caused.

The committee further said: “Information will be given in the upcoming weeks on an event featuring the artists for East End and Carrot Bay.”