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Rapid Damage and Loss Assessment November 9-11 and November 28, 2016 Floods

Countries
St. Vincent & Grenadines
Sources
Govt. Saint Vincent and Grenadines
Publication date
Origin
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

From September through November 2016, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) experienced a series of significant rainfall events beginning with the passage of Hurricane Mathew in September 2016 and culminating with the passage of two trough systems on November 9 and November 28, 2016. Due to the consistent rainfall over the period, ground conditions were largely saturated which set the stage for intense flash flooding associated with the two troughs. A single death was reported from Bequia.

As a result of intense rainfall, numerous landslides were triggered, resulting in significant damage to national road infrastructure. Flash floods, several of which were associated with debris flows, damaged bridges and private property with particularly devastating impact to lower-income communities. These effected were particularly focused in the northeastern and northwestern portions of the island of Saint Vincent (mainland).

On November 22, 2016, the Government requested support from the World Bank Group for developing a Rapid Damage and Loss Assessment (DaLA). Working closely with Government agencies, preliminary assessment data were collected to characterize the impacts of the disaster. In summary, presented in table 1, the transport sector accounted for 67 percent of the impact experienced because of the two events, accounting for approximately US$24.3 million (EC$65.7 million) of the total US$36.3 million (EC$97.9 million) in assessed damage and losses.