 In the early morning of Friday, April 19, 2013, in the Commonwealth Caribbean Island of Dominica, a motor vehicle fell into a 13m deep and 25m wide ravine. That ravine had rapidly formed across a major road, at a culvert crossing, after heavy rains (estimated to be approximately 44 cm) in the preceding three days. This accident at Pont Cassé unfortunately led to the death of two persons who were members of Dominica’s National Football Team.
Three UWI graduates hold senior positions in Dominica’s Ministry of Works: Senior Engineer Emile Lancelot, Chief Technical Officer Kendell Johnson and Permanent Secretary Lucien Blackmoore. They turned to the Faculty of Engineering for technical consultation and two staff members from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Dr. Derek Gay (Geo-technical Engineering) and Professor Gyan Shrivastava (Hydraulic Engineering), headed off to Dominica.
Their three-day mission was to provide specific analytical support in Geotechnical, Hydrologic and Hydraulic Engineering for the investigation of the road failure and in the engineering design of remedial measures. For the lecturers, the visit also provided a valuable opportunity to see these UWI graduates, all former students, in action as they contribute to the maintenance and improvement of the lifeline infrastructure in the challenging mountainous terrain of Dominica.
Preliminary engineering analyses indicate that the failure was caused by a rainstorm of return period in excess of 100 years (a probability of occurrence of less than 1 in 100) and the mechanism of failure was geotechnical as well as hydraulic. The UWI team will analyse all the topographic, geo-technical, hydrological and hydraulic data and submit a report to the Government of Dominica.
Gyan Shrivastava is a Professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering |
