Airport flooding blamed on cistern overflow
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Airports Authority (CIAA) has said the flooding at Owen Roberts International Airport (ORIA) Tuesday was due to its rain harvesting system being overwhelmed and not as a result of leaks or water breaching the buildings, doors or windows. Officials said that during the heavy downpour in the afternoon, the airport’s 220,000-gallon water cistern, which is used for fire protection and irrigation, overflowed.
“The cistern was near capacity prior to the heavy rainfall, which in turn caused an overflow of water into a deep well,” officials explained in a statement Wednesday after wide public concern that the brand new $68 million facility was flooded after the first seasonal rains of the year.
“This quickly reached capacity by the excessive rainfall, eventually exceeding the capacity of the cistern and ultimately causing the flooding in the terminal. The flooding was not a result of any roof leaks or water ingress under doors,” officials added.
The airport claimed that at no time was there more than one inch of water in the terminal and areas most affected were the departure hall and utility rooms.
“Crews were mobilised immediately to mitigate the cistern levels by using ancillary pumping equipment and to address the flooding clean up,” the authority said, adding that an “airport action team” was mobilised to identify the flooding causes and solutions.
The officials stated that mitigation measures were now being implemented so that it does not happen again. “The authority considers this a priority due to seasonal weather patterns that we are currently experiencing,” officials said.
The water caused considerable inconvenience for travellers, who were seen in photographs and videos splashing through the water in the terminals and holding up bags to keep them from getting wet. The images were widely shared on social media, raising concerns that the flooding could become an ongoing problem during the rainy season.
Category: Local News
Actually, the two hatches to the cisterns were always on the outside of the building – until now! I know!
So in other words the flooding in the building was ok because it was the cisterns overflowing ? what a mess, no common sense, shame, shame.
What an embarrassment! Brand new $68 million airport built on an island which is known to have the occasional torrential rain and first time the airport cistern overflows?
Does anyone do any forward thinking/planning here?
Pardon my ignorance as an outsider and casual observer, but how is a plumbing error or possibly a failure to monitor and manage water levels in a water tank the fault of elected Politicians or even a Board of Directors? Surely their involvement in building management details would be both bad governance and micro-management. Judging by the comments on this page, it appears your electorate expects elected and appointed governance officials to jump in and do everything themselves. I guess when your Party is not in power, its fun to blame politicians for everything.
don’t compare the Cayman Islands to any actual, real country.
27/06/2019 at 10:48 pm
But the CIG awarded the contracts to their private sector Caymanian friends and relatives.
Explain exactly what you mean by this.
As an outsider you have yet to realize that the building management is directly related to the friends and relatives of the politicians and the Board Of Directors.
Sadly, that is the way things work at the Airport.
There is a slight difference between the results of the poorly done airport and the port – instead of a little flooding there will be the loss of most of Seven Mile Beach sand and all of the coral reef near the harbour!!
Ron Ebanks – the cisterns have been underneath the airport building since it was built in 1984. The overflow vents were on the exterior all these years. The new development resulted in the overflow vents being enclosed by walls, thus making them become on the inside of the building. A very curious and questionable move! Hope that clarifies the matter for you.
Actually it was 2 access hatches, not overflows. They were always inside the building.
Anonymous
9:09 am
No it is not clarifying! I get that ” the overflow vents being enclosed by walls”. But, how does water get inside? Not through the walls or ceiling, then through the floor?
The airport flooding is the result of incompetence.
And major failure of oversight by building control , who make life hell for you if you just want to build a house.
Common! EVERY reputable, experienced and knowledgeable CONTRACTOR would spot the problem BEFORE he starts working. He would communicate it to the architects, developers, whomever.
Shhhh. After this we’ll all have to provide ‘cistern overflow plans’ before getting our houses approved.
Now if all the solutions offered here was quickly implemented everything would be normal again, Right? Can’t help it. I just have to laugh.
I swear that these people into the Government believe that everyone is fool like them .Who ever heard of putting the cistern under the building to where it can overflow and flood the building .
Private sector again. But CIG gets the blame. The private sector built the airport.
But the CIG awarded the contracts to their private sector Caymanian friends and relatives.
Precisely the reason why the CIG did not want the Canadians to build / manage the airport. There would be no BS with Caymanian friends and relatives getting contracts with the Canadians.
I am not involved with the airport, the contractors, the designers, the government at all, however just one thought – I see a lot of after the fact armchair design, construction, management and oversight going on here. It is so easy to come on here and be negative, to deride all the positives that exist here.
Our supermarkets have full shelves, albeit very expensive full shelves but at least we are not eating from garbage pans, we are very safe when compared to other places, and we have the ability to make a decent life if we put in the effort, why is it that EVERYTHING is always so bad?
I’d agree with you except the incompetence and corruption just seems overwhelming most of the time. I wouldn’t mind a little honest graft if if it got good results.
Stay tuned for the mega project of incompetence and corruption – the new Cruise Berthing Project – airport stuff will not even come close to what will happen. Government pushing ahead with everything – as they want to get Project rolling even before there is a chance possibly enacting a referendum.
Do not have a good feeling about this Cruise Berthing Project, seems like the Government is pushing too hard, trying to oversell the benefits, like they are desperate to sway the public opinion.
Part of the unique experience of coming to Grand Cayman is using the tenders, we are not like all the other ports. New port here would be like putting in a modern airport in Little Cayman – you can argue that it is needed but it works as it is – just like our port in George Town.
Add Waste to Energy Plant to your list of “mega project of incompetence and corruption”.
@at 3:14 pm because it is beyond bad. You regularly and stubbornly make yourself a laughingstock. Just name one thing where CIG is (was) involved that is (was) not so bad.
Bo Bo you nah read home invasion of tourists? Which part safe? In your gated community? You clearly seem to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth? When you see any government throwing good money on craziness you really expect the citizens to just sit back and be taxed some more? You realize this airport renovation costs $60 million and it’s already flooded for a little rain?
And your point ???
Who?
It’s the overpaid Contractors fault for the mess up for expanding the building over the underground cistern and the vents…CIG experts fault for allowing the mess up to happen (Civil Engineers/Planning Dept. Architects should have spotted this beforehand)…Cayman ppls fault for voting for the greedy fools that did this “new” extension of the Airport!! It’s pathetic how CIG can’t seem to get these things, (that they do go after) right…but yet they are on a plane traveling to other far lands, blabbering off their mouths to keep us in the financial fore-runnings and allowing Uncle Dart to walk away with everything we do have that’s any good for “free” (getting it all for little to nothing) and with “concessions” granted afterwards…and the cherry on top they want to build a Cruise Berthing Facility in GT Harbour? C’mon, Mr. Moses and Mr. Premier, please stop and think about the detriment all this foolishness is to the ppl and the land!!! FOLKS WE ARE DAMNED WITH THESE AT THE HELM….GOOD-BYE CAYMAN ISLANDS AND THE INDIGENOUS CAYMANIANS, WHO CAN’T/WON’T LEAVE!! Dear God help us all, bless our land and these Leaders, O heavenly Father! In Jesus name I pray…Amen
Did someone call them earlier and advise them it is raining????
I worked at the airport for years and I’m pretty sure there were never any flooding issues back then.
Before anyone goes blaming the contractor for a faulty design, which it may be faulty, please bear in mind that some Member(s) of Cabinet would have given the green light to the design.
Also, what does Chairman Mr. Guyton, who is married to the cousin of Airport Minister Moses Kirkconnell, and CEO Mr. Anderson have to say?? All we read is “officials said…”
I did not realize that some Member(s) of Cabinet were qualified as building engineers enough to know to green light the design. WTH are you talking about? They may have green lighted the design but they did not green light the build.
You do not need to be an engineer to know that water flows downhill, that there are tropical rains in Cayman, or great the area is susceptible to storm surge.
Would you build a house without considering what would happen in a hurricane?
So you think that the Member(s) of Cabinet sat around looking into the direction of the flow of water? ROTFL!!! Seriously… You are giving way more credit to them than they are due.
Another project by the Major Projects Office – who are also in charge of the port and the dump project
What, All Bert and Moses are brothers? Bredren, what planet you on??
I know for a fact that the overflow vents for the cisterns used to be on the exterior, now after the expansion, they appear to be on the inside. Clearly designers, contractors and management didn’t compensate for design changes which brought the vents inside the building. However, even when the vents were on the exterior, they were still in areas which were sensitive and which were used by staff, i.e baggage make-up areas.
When experts managed the airport they and their teams prepared every year before the rainy season by pumping excess water from the cisterns (used to water the gardens which are now replaced by floor area) so as to accommodate the expected rains.
The difference between those who know and those who don’t!
So let me see if I got this straight. The airport is built near the sea and is pretty much built at ground level (finished grade level). It is well known that nearby areas in industrial park and neighborhoods such as “HALFWAY POND” flood out during some of our “seasonal” rains.
Now most homes are required to be built up a couple feet above the finished grade level of land. So why didn’t the experts make the whole airport building the same couple feet above finished grade level? Seems like common sense.
And the things about cistern and deep well, didn’t Tom Fools Day already happen this year.
All the money spent on the absolutely ugly metal/glass designed front of the airport could have been put to better use – the neighbouring country to the north calls such spending “pork barrel” spending – here it might be “filling the pockets of certain persons with certain connections”.
But the good news for our visitors is that you do not have to wait until you get to the beach before snorkeling – our tourism minister “Mo$e$ may seize upon the airport’s water situation to allow visitors to get acclimated to Cayman waters by allowing snorkeling inside the airport (can’t do that at any other airport, can you?). It will also give the die hard snorkelers a chance to snorkel just one more time before going back on the plane. I joking, Mo$e$ please don’t take me serious and government please don’t take me serious – it is a stupid idea and I should not have even put such stupidity into your minds.
Travelling in and out of Grand Cayman – never a dull moment.
6:17AM you shouldn’t joke about snorkelers like that – because I heard a rumour that the bus that drives into the sea and becomes a boat is considering adding the airport departure and baggage areas onto their itinerary – even heard that you can book a tour online or on the DOT website.
When life (or the supreme allied powers known as Cabinet) deals us lemons, then we make lemonade!! Any Caymanian vendors who are not licensed to rent out snorkel equipment should not be setting up their carts/tents near the arrival area or in the rental car parking lot.
Who needs Comedy Central on cable tv when we can get laughs from our locally elected officials – go PPM, go UDP, go CDP, go PNA, go Unity team, go independents, go and go and go all you self-serving bureaucrats.
And with that stay tuned all natives, more to come from our beloved politicians
P.S. Don’t blame civil servants like me, because all of us are “directed” by politicians to certain things in a certain way. If you “make waves” (and I am not talking about the type you can make from water in the departure area) you will be a marked person and unna public knows that is true. Chief Officer’s of any Ministry are simply “lackeys” for the minister that they serve under, true again.
Damn – that civil servant sounds a lot like the leader from the country where most all of our visitors come from.
Yep, build on swampy land, it rains, it gets swampy – I think even primary school aged children would even understand that concept.
11.52am Read the story. Had nothing to do with swampy ground.
Yes, you are right, known as CNS fails to mention that the area is swampy ground but it is very common knowledge that the whole surrounding area is
prone to flooding and has very poor drainage. Thanks for pointing my incorrect reference to swampy – although I do really think that some of the surrounding area could be considered swampy (i.e areas where water easily ponds and stays for an extended period of time, not exactly the Florida Everglades, but general public gets the point).
This is your daily spin doctor sound bite comin’ straight at you from the sunny…… sometimes extreme rainy fillin’ up our cisterns to overflowing…… and corrupt Cayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyman Islands!!
Buy your overpriced, over taxed plane ticket to our over hyped paradise today!
Sit in our snarled up traffic jams.
Look at our ivory towering hotels, sitting on beach you can no longer enjoy without being their guest.
Smell our sewage plant on SMB… rotting fart sargassum…. mmmmmm, smell it….. oh there’s some garbage that hasn’t been picked up in weeks, a real treat for your senses….. mmmmmmmm
Then buy your scrubby piece of land or your overpriced condo, complete with artisan dump wafts. C’mon who can resist? Tax free y’know!!
Smell it…..
Oh what’s that? Manure…… mmmmmmmmmmm….. straight from our fascist dicktators bumbums, oh wait…. sorry: mouths, who are lining their own pockets as we speak…. and buying their tickets out of here at the end of their current term. You don’t expect them to stay after their rape and pillage of our beloved Cayman Islands, do you? Nooooooo Bobo….no…..
Rounding out the entire experience, an unnecessary port being built for the cheap fanny pack brigade, which will take years to build, destroy SMB, disrupt George Town, and likely bring along its own set of problems not dissimilar from the continuing, and not yet over, airport debacle.
Enjoy!
Ps. Our kids are suffering horribly as a result of poor public education but we don’t care!! We love stuuuuuuuuuupid! How else could we continue getting away with the heinous things we do… mwahhahahaha.
Hey Folks!!
This just in! Visitors robbed as they sleep in East End!!!!!!
That’s all we got at this time!
We’ll wait for today’s spin doctors from the Cayyyyyyyyyyman Islands to give us more news, maybe later!
But tomorrow’s Friday? Ah – soon come!
Until then…. two things sure in the Cayman islands: expensive stuff and sunny sun so lather up on that sunscreen! We don’t want y’all lookin’ like the tourist trees!
sunscreen causes cancer and kills coral
Good point!
We sellin’ some of that eco-sunscreen they sell in Mayheeeeko for the saynotays? Slather that on your bod! Safety first and all that jazz….
Seriously – can you buy the eco-stuff on island?
Betta yet – just stay indoors. Safer.
Also – politicos don’t care at all about our environment, and expect everyone to follow their lead so…. when in Rome, I s’pose…. Imagine if we all lived in that type of world?!!!!!!
Not to worry 6.17am. Your special room is under construction in East End. Padded walls and all for your comfort. Oh yeah and free drugs.
Truth hurts don’t it, 7:10?
Why access to the area wasn’t immediately restricted? Imagine a mother carrying a child or an elderly person slips on the flooded floor? From the video things continued as usual.
I guess because they would have had to close the airport altogether- and no one had the courage to do that.
To 2.03pm I bet poster 5.28am would have closed the airport. Immediately. Without thought of consequence. Afterall one can be real brave as a keyboard warrior.
Why passengers and employees were allowed to occupy flooded areas therefore exposing themselves to electrocution risks. Not a word about it in the statement.
Every house in Bermuda has a cistern. Bermudians never heard of such a thing as cistern overflow inside a house.
Have to give Bermuda credit for a few things such as excellent bus system and going with a new airport built by Canadians which puts our airport to shame.
We can learn from Bermuda. Let’s start learning.
Nothing can compensate for wearing long socks with shorts, ed of story.
It is a racist and failing pit of cronyism. There is much about Bermuda we should strive to avoid emulating.
12:35, Strongly suggest you keep an open mind and go to Bermuda and see for yourself the bus system, the new airport and the garbage collection system. Seeing these things has absolutely nothing to do with racism or failing cronyism. They work, so we should certainly be emulating them here.
As a caymanian who worked and lived in Bermuda I agree there is much to admire in those three areas, their landfill collection, public transport and a decent airport now- however the racism will always be the white elephant in the room that will take years to progress change. It is alive and kicking! Blacks, whites and Portuguese and the mixed are all segmented groups.
Agreeing with previous poster- very little we should be trying to emulate from them.
Racism is in human blood. No country has ever eliminated it. They may respect all races, but racism still an issue.
But the discussion is not about racism but about basic infrastructure.
“… mitigation measures were now being implemented..”
Why weren’t it implemented BEFORE?
What about risk of electrocution?
Or safety measures would be implemented after an accident?
It’s obvious folks don’t believe the cistern part, the area in which the cistern hatch is now used to be outside before the departure hall was expanded. Not saying it’s not a shame what happened, but it is a fact.
Whoa there partner how can it be the Government fault? You ever higher trades people to do a job? Do you have time to watch them build your house? You rely on people who get a contract to fulfill their agreement. What we need is a law to protect the consumer and Government that if they don’t its their time and money to correct the job. To me its sounds like some body should have redirected the flow of the pipe away from the building. So someone as the Contractor should fix it.
Well tbe politicians cancelled the builders law
nothing funnier than the cig civil service trying to excuse its own incompetence….
Exactly! They don’t even realize how stupid they look.
how can they feel stupid when there is no accountability…..
If it’s from a cistern sue the contractor for any damages caused! all overflows and access points for the cistern should be on the outside of the building, but I think something else was breached
Why the contractor? Don’t they build to the specifications of the design team and architects?
Stupid design by incompetent people approved by morons and paid for by the people.
Cayman repeatedly screwed
Have the obscenely overpaid Einsteins at the CIAA worked out if they block the inflow to the cistern when it is nearly full, where the water will go instead?.
Love your comment. 🤣
They are asking Boeing for a software fix to compensate for the fact that water flows downhill.
You can’t fix stupid.
Do you bunch of nincompoops has nothing to do but wish for the worst.
do you ever watch news of the world!
So, the cistern’s overflow is located inside the airport? As no water breached from under the doors or from the roof above, it must have come from below. There are only three places, right? Above, below, or sideways.
This explanation does not make sense, or I am reading this incorrectly.
Lol – I said the same thing!! Must have been that joint I smoked, but these folks are telling lies.
Exactly!
Bull poop really does baffle brains…
I’ve heard of this happening when a house was expanded adding a room over what was previously the back porch, which was where the cistern access hatch was. The external overflow got blocked and the water came up through the access hatch, flooding the new room. Basically its a series of unfortunate/unlikely events, but it could happen especially after an expansion of the building. Of course on a house, where you’re on a constrained budget, vs a large civic infrastructure project where it looks like there are … windows of opportunity for cost-cutting if it were needed, there’s no excuse for making this mistake. Someone (or some group: architect, then engineer, then approver, then contractor) needs to be responsible.
Shouldn’t the cistern and well overflows run to the outside of the building? That’s the way mine are. It’s hard to understand those open pipes in the equipment room with rainwater shooting out (thanks Marl Road video.)
I am a bit surprised our elected opposition group is sooooooooo quiet on this one?
No word from the elected opposition as some of them and their friends are in on the airport building money gravy train.
Because the opposition know this could happen on anyone’s watch. No rational person can expect Cabinet / CIG Minister to check the fine details of a building plan (especially something ‘simple’ like are the cistern overflows on the outside of the building) administered not even by a CIG Ministry but by an Authority set up to be somewhat outside direct Minister/Cabinet oversight.
There’s blame to apportion here, but not to the politicians directly.
Ever heard of not building below the flood line? You “need” a cistern so the inside of the airport doesn’t flood in a rain????????????
Get your money back and whoever the architects and contractors are should apologize publicly.
PATHETIC SORRINESS!
Jokers
Overflow into a deep well. So the deep well did not work? Who is in charge of checking to ensure the cistern has not reached capacity? Who ensures the deep wells works? Seems to be a lot of incompetence at the cost of the people’s expense and international reputational damage for the islands. We surly are the laughing stock for the other islands.
This is what you call incompetence on parade.
That’s what you get for not letting Dart build it. Keep spending 60 million on building dysfunctional chicken coops.
Why let people with brains build things when you can have this comedy over and over again?
What a pathetic joke!
‘what a pathetic joke’ – is that third person interjection after you’ve made the joke or is there implication somewhere else ? – sorry, an evening of lego has made my brain hurt…
Yes Dart and CHEC will solve all our problems
LOL have you ever looked at Deccos track record??? FYI they hiring same local subcontractors that built airport and just as incompetent in overseeing them.
Currently seen jackhammering up a sidewalk poured less than a year ago…
Canadians should have built it not Dart. What does Dart know about building airports?
and you want us to let you build a port!
You’re right, the Cayman Islands are for too incompetent!
Great point!
And you want to build WtE plant? And you want Caymanian people to run it? Chernobyl would look safer to live in.
Chernobyl will look like a wellness retreat. You can measure radioactivity and there is no room for different interpretations. Fallouts from incinerators can be measured as well, but only if they are measured by people who have no connection to CIG. Otherwise nothing will be disclosed to prevent mass ex·o·dus!
I recommend you follow the issue Dominican Republic is facing today. 74% drop in tourism according to media. Something like that is quite possible here . The open air Dump, medical waste, thousands tons of dead animals. You’re hoping nothing is going to happen? Frankenstein will be sending you a message.
what a lying bunch of hypocrites!
Nah, just incompetent.
Both
Boy the pictures clearly show water on the interior floors, but we are believe that water did not get in through doors or ceilings. Did it seep up through the floor then?
7.02pm DUH. Read the article first, then comment.
Oh come on! We have not had that much rain and if 220,000 gallons can be harvested by a few inches of rain, then this is a repeat problem. Surely any civil engineer could calculate how long it would take to fill the cistern given average rainfall and roof catchment area?
Did you read all of the article? It says that the cistern was almost full when the rain started.
Knowing the incompetence of the CIG/Cayman SC – they probably paid Water Authority to fill it up to the brim – just before rainy season…! AND OF COURSE – the “engineers” screwed up with the over flows…OF COURSE THEY DID……..
No, any decent architect/engineer/contractor should have put the overflows on the outside.
On a MUCH smaller scale this happens to me all the time in rainy season. My external rain tank overflows. No need to calculate rainfall vs usage if its all external anyway, even when the deep well (main overflow) backs up its all external.
To 7.00pm Maybe you live in another part of the island and did not experience this cloudburst but CITN reported that 3.2 inches of rain fell in the Industrial Park area ( where airport is ) in a few hours. That’s what the old timers called a “cloudburst”. That’s a lot of rain.
I can’t help but wonder the catastrophe awaiting this Island with a mountain of hazardous waste being stored and disposed of inadequately especially now that we’re at the beginning of hurricane season again.
Meanwhile the buffoons – “Build the dock yea!”
Yes. Include the culled 750,000 dead green iguanas, too.
Still no confirmation as to what exactly the CIG are doing with all of those rotting carcasses.
They are in a cistern, under the airport. How else you think it got full during a drought?
Lmao!
They want to repeat what Dominican Republic tourism is facing today. They (DR) are still guessing. There would be no need to guess here.
So the overflows from the cistern are inside the building????
C’mon. Try something else.
Never had a cistern, but don’t believe that one!
its more cig/civl service incompetence….either way you spin it…
Seriously?
C’Mon Maaaaaaaaaan
The Cistern……. really? I’m no contractor, but it seems to me that the folks over at the GIA are working overtime on the spin-doctoring…
– Maximus
Another expensive disaster brought to you by the ppm. SMH
Mmm hmmm and I believe in the tooth fairy too!
I believe in Santa clause too, hahaha0
I’m starting to think there might be something to this God fella too.
ROFLOL
Please try again Moses K you really think people are stupid eh?
What does he have to do with the this? The response came from the board. I am sure he is just as disappointed as we all are.
So, it’s safe to assume that this ridiculous incident will never occur again??!!!
It wasn’t an incident. It was by design.
I’ll bet you Aldin is busy praying for a 40 year drought.