Ngeremlengui residents who commute to Koror to work are at odds with Mother Nature. Most of them reported to work late last week due to flooding, which had prevented them from accessing the Compact Road (CR).
According to one resident, there is only one access road that connects the states populated hamlets to the CR. The road, which had long been used during the initial construction stages of the CR, crosses over part of Ngermeskang River. The river empties into the sea.“It is not a problem when the tide is receding or low,” said the resident. “However, it becomes a commuters nightmare when it rains for consecutive days, and especially during high tides.”As recently as last week, flooding of the access road to Ngeremlengui prevented commuters from leaving or entry to the main residential areas of the state. People had to wait for the tide to recede in order to safely cross over to either side of Ngermeskang River.“Our previous state government was aware of the problem,” the resident added, “And it had initiated efforts to elevate the access road above the flood lines.”Further, the resident said, the current state government is mustering efforts to address the matter.“I am 100 percent positive that if our state government had the funding the road would have been fixed by now,” the resident said.The resident is confident that the road and flooding issues will be settled in due time.“We can’t point fingers at anyone,” the resident said. “We are dealing with natural events that we have no control of; however, each of us, even though it is inconvenient, must be prepared for the unpredicted – make arrangements.”The resident further added that flooding of the access road is nothing new but everyone must be aware of it for “the rain and subsequently, flooding might inconvenience him or her.”
