In addition to the two drainage tunnels located on Máximo Gómez and Núñez de Cáceres avenues, three granular subdrains must be built, in a north-south direction, reaching the sea through both sides of Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill and Luperón avenues.
SANTO DOMINGO.-The damage caused by the torrential rains that fell last Friday in Santo Domingo, which left six dead, three missing, and damage to homes and vehicles, should not be seen as just another incident, because it is urgent to redefine and expand the precarious stormwater drainage system, so that at least 75% of the storm runoff can drain into the Caribbean Sea.
The observation comes from geologist Osiris de León, who stated that, in addition to the two drainage tunnels located on Máximo Gómez and Núñez de Cáceres avenues, three granular subdrains should be built, in a north-south direction, reaching the sea through both sides of Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill and Luperón avenues.
De León explained that these subdrains must be accompanied by other granular subdrains and sewer systems in an east-west direction to collect water from urbanizations and critical points, to direct it towards the two existing drainage tunnels and towards the three north-south subdrains to be built on both sides of the aforementioned avenues.
With these works, he said, at least 75% of the runoff can be drained into the Caribbean Sea, and the remaining 25% could be drained vertically through normal filter wells, 12 to 24 inches in diameter, and large point wells, 1 and 2 meters in diameter, filled with coarse gravel, “which conduct rainwater from critical points to the water table, knowing that on the boardwalk the water table is 10 meters deep and that on 27 de Febrero Avenue it is 50 meters deep.”.
Lack of foresight
The torrential rains that fell in three hours caused Santo Domingo, especially the National District, to collapse on a massive scale due to the fury of the floods and the overflowing of streams and ravines.
In that regard, De León stated that if the city had had an adequate drainage system, capable of draining 150 millimeters of rain per square meter per hour, it would not have flooded and traffic would not have collapsed.
In making that observation, he explained that “the Colonial City, built by Nicolás de Ovando starting in 1504, never floods, with any storm or hurricane, thanks to the fact that the first thing Ovando did was to build a rainwater and sanitary drainage system, towards the nearby Ozama River, with a drainage capacity that exceeds the maximum water inflow that can occur in a storm or hurricane.”.
A problem that is getting worse
According to De León, the Greater Santo Domingo area is getting worse and worse in terms of stormwater drainage, due to situations that government and municipal authorities are turning their backs on.
“Greater Santo Domingo is getting worse and worse in terms of stormwater drainage because we have spent decades building urbanizations, avenues, streets, sidewalks, curbs, plazas and parks, but in no case do we think about the necessary drainage for storm situations that any newly developed area must have.
“That’s why there are floods in Núñez de Cáceres with Gustavo Mejía Ricart, in the vicinity of the Los Prados club, the Paraíso club, in Charles Summer, in Los Ríos, in Los Jardines del Norte, in La Puya de Arroyo Hondo, in Guajimía, in Winston Churchill, in Luperón, in the overpasses of 27 de Febrero, Metro stations, shopping centers, housing developments and underground parking lots,” he said.
Taken from the newspaper Hoy with modifications.
