Shortly after the heaviest downpour on Monday morning, about 20 people stood on porches and under umbrellas in the area, watching the grate at the ghut’s mouth. One man directed the cars that drove slowly by through the muddy water.

Soon Elvis “Juggy” Harrigan (R-D5), whose district includes the flooded road and the area immediately to the west of it, arrived. After surveying the scene, Mr. Harrigan said he’s satisfied with the ghut work, but added that more needs to be done.

Some area residents agreed that the improved ghut was working as it should. But others called out to the representative, pointed to the water rushing down the road, and questioned whether the recent work had indeed made a significant difference.

In February 2008, Premier Ralph O’Neal and Natural Resources and Labour Minister Omar Hodge, whose Sixth District includes much of Johnsons Ghut, broke ground on a $3.5 million-plus initiative designed to remedy the longstanding flooding problem in the area.

The Johnsons Ghut Development Project, introduced through the NRL Ministry, aims to prevent the debris and other waste that avalanche down the ridge above from polluting the area and causing a dangerous environment for residents. It includes a grating system that has been covered to make way for what engineers describe as a soon-to-be “boulevard.”

“The covered ghut will be used to widen the roadway and create two lanes of traffic in the area, which would include a sitting park, named the New Johnsons Ghut Boulevard, for residents,” Mr. Hodge said in an April 2008 statement, shortly after construction on the project got underway.

Now, the widened road, equipped with the “sitting park” — an opened median in the middle of the road — still is under construction, as cars use one lane interchangeably to drive up and down the street, as weather permits.

As the Fifth District representative watched the new grate function while torrential rain gushed through it Monday morning, he said it was successfully catching debris that otherwise would be washing down the road.

Mr. Harrigan pointed to a two-foot-high wall beside the road. When he was growing up in the area, he explained, rainwater often would wash down the road in a stream as deep as the wall, and no cars could pass. Now, he added, the situation appears to be much improved.

The road, Mr. Harrigan continued, is situated on a natural ghut, and nothing can be done to keep the water from flowing down it.

Amilcar Cailo, a designer for the newly improved ghut, later explained everything was going as planned, as heavy machinery scooped goops of mud, trash and debris from the grate’s opened mouth.

“This is proof that it’s working exactly as it should,” he said, pointing to the muck being scooped and hauled away by the truckload.

“Look at it! Look at it! That’s exactly what we don’t want down there,” Mr. Cailo said proudly of the collected trash he identified as proof that progress had been made.

It was the first time the ghut had been cleaned since it was functionalised, he said, adding that more upkeep should be done.

“We need to keep a cleaning programme — something where we keep track of cleaning,” the engineer said, suggesting the Public Works Department keep a schedule of routine maintenance.

The project should be finished in two weeks, he said, adding that 30 feet of concrete needs to be added to the road before the two-lane boulevard transformation is completed.

But to some residents, the project is full of rubbish.

As the water levels began to dip Monday afternoon, some residents sat on higher ground — and some in the designated sitting area — sipping beers and conversing over the soupy mess that kept them rained out from work.

Many preferred to remain nameless, but taunted those cleaning out the grate, and said they were displeased by the work done in their neighborhood.

Johnsons Ghut property owner Ashton McCall stood in his driveway, directing traffic as drivers used his roadway to pull up while other cars maneuvered down the one-way street where the boulevard would go.

“It’s been affecting us ever since the start,” Mr. McCall said, raising several complaints, including the traffic he said overlaps onto his driveway. “Now, you have engineers that don’t make sense. The median makes [the road] much narrower.”

Furthermore, the sitting water that engulfs the ghut within the grate creates an overwhelming mosquito problem, he said.

“You’ve got to spray Baygone all night just to sleep,” Mr. McCall said. “All it’s doing now is just making a mess.

“With all the millions [government] is spending here, they don’t tell people what they want; what they’re going to do.”

The full story appears in the Nov. 19, 2009 issue.