“I used to be afraid; it was only me within the shop and my family couldn’t come to rescue me”
Water reportedly eight inches above street level
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Downtown art gallery Sixty 2 Sixty experienced a bout of flooding at its establishment on Sunday, with heavy rainfall rising no less than eight inches above street level and spilling into the shop.
Shantelle Collie, sales associate and mother of the proprietor, said: “At first it got here like a heavy downpour, and after I looked, I saw the water just coming, slipping through the glass — and that’s hurricane glass that’s alleged to keep the water out.
“I put the ground rug down and tried to stay some plastic around it, nevertheless it still didn’t work because when all of the large trucks and cars passed, it just pushed the entire water in so hard. I could see it pushing in.
“I just went within the back and I took the boxes off of the bottom and put some within the chairs and a few up, and I sat down within the chair — I got two chairs and I kept my legs up — and I used to be just watching it just are available in…
“I said: ‘Oh my God. I hope this doesn’t worsen.’
“It got here up, I say, like eight inches.”
Based on Shantelle Collie, the shop, which has been situated within the downtown area for a 12 months and a half now, is not any stranger to flooding.
She recalls the shop having no less than one other flooding incident prior to this latest one, noting that this one was the worst the shop has ever seen.
“The primary flooding wasn’t too bad. This second one was really bad,” she lamented.
“This one was really terrible.”
Collie said that initially, she was frightened of the degree of flooding, noting that she was also alone in the shop when it occurred.
“I used to be afraid. It was only me within the shop, and my family couldn’t come to rescue me,” she said.
“I told my daughter [on the phone]: ‘The shop flooded really badly. I didn’t even understand it would get to this.’”
Not one of the items in the shop sustained any water damage, based on the owner, June Collie.
She said: “We didn’t have any water damage because most of it’s just tile in here.”
Commenting on the extent of the flooding, she asserted that “the water just is available in and makes a multitude”.
Shantelle Collie said: “When there’s heavy rainfall, I just turn back [and go home].
“When those cars pass, they wet you up, so I just jump back in my automotive and return home.
“That’s how terrible it’s.”
Since Sunday, the flooding has subsided substantially, though there remains to be water puddled in front of the art gallery.
Neither the proprietor nor her mother has had communication with their landlord or personnel from the Ministry of Works regarding mitigation efforts for downtown flooding as much as press time yesterday.
Written by Eyewitness News Intern Gabrielle Sterling
