 The government, or St. Lucia, with assistance from the Disaster of Renability Reduction Project, DVRP, has embarked on an initiative to reduce the frequency of flooding in the Denver region. More from Hermody Mark. Because of the smell of the mud I took, I said there's flooding. I called them, tell them, try and see what they can lift up to put in the house because the water was coming in like it's the sea that was there. This is an all-too-familiar story, downpour, high tide, poor drainage, and a village at the mercy of Mother Nature. The January village is below sea level, basically, and when the tide is high, water comes in through the drainage system and builds up. I'm the parliamentary rep. When it rains in January, I can't sleep, okay? The individuals who live in the low-lying area. On October 6, 2010, Hurricane Thomas inundated the village of Denver. The flooding was aggravated not only by torrential downpour, but a very poor drainage system. Fast forward 10 years, same date October 6, 2020, Mother Nature returned with the same fury. Over 8 inches of rain and predictably a flooded village of over 5,000 residents. Sometimes the water will go inside of the shop. I have goods that are ready for the sip of the flooding. Sometimes if I buy some goods like today, tomorrow flood, I have to throw the things. November 17, 2020, the skies opened up, and once again, Denver was a casualty community. The government of St. Lucia, with the assistance of the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project, the VRP, have embarked on an initiative to reduce the frequency of flooding in this region with a meticulously engineered drainage system. This drainway we are here now, it's coming from an area called Green Mountain. They're tapped into it at one point up behind the school. And that is where most of the water coming down to the main drain is. So until this subside a little, then the other one carry. But now with what they're doing now, they're widening it and you have the turn as it goes with the turn. So with the water pressure, both of them will be running parallel to each other. It picks it up and that should make a difference, a big difference. The Drainage Network is designed to efficiently channel stormwater into various courses to accommodate up to a one in 25-year rainfall event. This system includes a series of interconnected open drains, slab drains and road culvert crossings totaling approximately 1,000 metres. We are doing the structural concrete now, which is the drain we're building, excavating, putting in the rebars, casting the bottom formwork. We're doing everything simultaneously as we go along, the team ahead, the concrete team follow, the formwork team follow. The Denver South Flood Mitigation Contract was awarded through a competitive bidding process at a cost of $3 million EC and is expected to be completed within six months. The DVRP aims to build flood resistance communities across St. Lucia, one project at a time. From the Government Information Service, Elmady Mark reporting.