Constant flooding is costing some Pembroke business owners thousands.

Published reports from 2015 estimated that business in the Mill Creek and Bakery Lane areas was losing up to $40,000 every time it flooded.

This week, David Swift, owner of Pembroke Paint at 17 Bakery Lane, said those figures seemed low.

“It is costing us a lot more than $40,000 and we are just one business,” he said.

A Mill Creek business owner, who did not wish to be named, said: “The flooding has a definite impact. I probably lose about six weeks a year of business due to the roads being impassable.”

About six inches of rain fell on October 14, within a 24-hour period. Roads around Mill Creek, as well as the Addendum Lane South and Bakery Lane crossroad, filled with water three to four feet deep in some places.

“I saw one guy’s car get stuck in it,” one Mill Creek entrepreneur said. “The water was up to the bottom of his car window.”

The flooding around Mill Creek, a historically marshy area, has continued since then.

“It is not raining any more,” the entrepreneur said. “But the water in Mill Creek has been unusually high. So every morning at high tide there is flooding again, not as bad as on Friday though. If you know the road you can navigate around it.”

Area stakeholders have been in talks with the Government since 2002 about potential solutions. A protest group was formed in 2015.

In 2021, the Government promised to clear out Mill Creek itself and cut down mangroves to improve the situation.

“Clearly the issue remains,” said Piers Carr, chief executive of Current Works at 7 Mill Creek Road.

The recent flooding has been a struggle for his business.

“The last few weeks have been particularly bad because of the intense downpour we had,” he said.

He did not think the flooding was life-threatening, but bad for cars because the flood waters are partly salty. Splashing through the remaining puddles accelerates the rusting process and causes local businesses to shell out more in vehicle maintenance. Some companies rinse down company vehicles after driving around the neighbourhood.

Some people have adjusted to the problem in their own way.

“It is just normal now,” Lindsay Butterfield, general manager of Esc Limited at 4 Mill Creek Road.

She checks the weather report daily, looking for details on high tide. She wants to know when and how high.

“Today at 4.41pm it will be high tide,” she told The Royal Gazette this week. “By 2pm I will have to take a look at the forecast. I might have to let the staff go early, or get them to move their cars to the end of the road. It is not flooding right now, but it is low tide.”

In the past ten days, her company Facebook page has had several messages to customers about the flooding, ranging from the public notice ‘Due to flooding we will be open at 10am. Sorry for the inconvenience’ to the ecstatic relief of ‘Hurrah! The road is now open. Sorry for the inconvenience’, but also the rhetorical ‘Here we go again’.

Esc Limited has been at Mill Creek for decades.

“For as long as I have been around, Mill Creek has flooded,” Ms Butterfield said. “It is always around storms or extended periods of rain.”

Another shop owner thought things were getting worse, probably because of global warming and sea-level changes.

Some Mill Creek neighbours have taken matters into their own hands.

The owner of a construction firm, it is said, frequently wades directly into the creek with a pitchfork to clear trash from a sluice gate that opens on the approach of low tide.

However, area entrepreneurs were loyal to the neighbourhood. They liked the closeness to Hamilton and the plentiful parking.

“It’s a great location — well, except for the flooding,” one person said.

“To move a business of our size is not an easy task,” Ms Butterfield said. “We like the location and the water does not flood the building.”

It takes a toll on their foot traffic, however, because few customers want to bring their car through the brackish water.

“There have been many solutions that have been thrown around,” Ms Butterfield said. “Nothing has ever really happened. I am not an engineer. I have no idea what that solution would be.”

• Are you a business owner impacted by regular flooding in Pembroke. What should be done about it? Let us know at business@royalgazette.com