By Desiree Washington
Thursday, July 13th is when we saw sea levels rise high and waves started crashing onto the road in Fatumafuti. The morning of July 14th, around 6:30am, the road became flooded as constant waves continued to rise and crash onto the road. The drainage was suspected to have been clogged.
People in the village went outside and attempted to clear up the road, as traffic drove through. However, the waves would crash over again, bringing more debris and trash onto the road and near homes. The waves even pushed some people over . Thankfully, they didn’t require an ambulance.
Paramount crews arrived around 8am and they, along with people in the village, attempted to fix the drain while clearing up the roads.
Shortly after, the ocean calmed down and the flooding receded, as more workers arrived to clear the Fatumafuti road. Traffic was hardly moving and cars heading to the east were backed up all the way to Tutuila.
The road was cleared and traffic returned to normal around 10 am Friday.
A resident of Fatumafuti shared that a co-worker on her way to work in another part of the island had to return home after waves pummeled her car, causing the car to lift and shift on the road.
