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Cayman’s brush with what has now become Hurricane Helene left many communities under water on Tuesday, prompting emergency medical evacuations and increased flood- mitigation efforts.
George Town Fire Station Manager Henry Ebanks was among those who sprung into action in the early morning hours of Tuesday as the rains and winds kicked up over Grand Cayman.
Ebanks and his crew were dispatched around 7:30am Tuesday to assist Emergency Medical Services personnel with an evacuation of a person in the Templeton Street area of Windsor Park who had been impacted by floodwater.
“[The] patient was complaining about shortness of breath. Crews assisted in taking the patient to the hospital and the patient was seen by the doctor, [and] subsequently released,” he said.
The fire service, he added, also assisted in returning the patient to their home.
Romelia Welcome, Windsor Park resident and president of the Cayman Kind Action Committee, said though her home was safe from rising floodwaters, her relatives living on Washington Boulevard were faced with increased flooding on Tuesday morning.
“My sister is fearing that water was going to [enter] her house down in Washington Boulevard. I contacted [the National Roads Authority] and they have reassured me that they have two teams out. One was in Windsor Park and one was in Washington Boulevard,” she said.
Welcome said she had received more reports of rising waters.
“We’re also fighting against king tides, which really affects down in Washington Boulevard; whenever we have high tides, the water comes up through the drains,” she said.
The NRA posted Tuesday morning that crews had been dispatched to clear the flood-prone areas.
Opposition Leader and George Town East MP Roy McTaggart said earlier on Tuesday one of the pumps in Randyke Gardens was not working properly and had to be removed.
The NRA assured it would be replaced to help the flood-prone community mitigate the rising waters, he said.
‘The water is coming into the house’
Also in the George Town area, some residents had to act quickly when floodwater started encroaching on their property around the peak passage of the severe weather.
One resident said she had to assist a family of visitors whose rental property became inundated with floodwater in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
She said when the water first started to rise at the property, the family messaged her frantically around 4:15am, but she missed their text.
They then called her about half an hour later.
“They said that water was coming into the house. It’s in a low-lying area [in George Town] and they said the whole yard was flooded, and the water was seeping under the doors,” she said.
The resident said she told them to pack up and meet her at another property she had available at the time, so they would have somewhere to stay.
She said the family of eight will remain at the new property until Sunday.
Boat captain Dominick Martin-Mayes of Cool Change Charters said he not only had to rescue people from the Swamp area of George Town on Tuesday, but he also saved vessels that were in danger of sinking.
Speaking with the Compass on Tuesday afternoon, Martin-Mayes said he was called to rescue some George Town residents and was met with water that was between 2 and 3 feet deep.
After he managed to help them leave the area, he got called out on another rescue effort, this time to get boats to safety.
Martin-Mayes added he had to assist a couple of his fellow captains whose boats had been battered by the rough seas.
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