Pacific

American Samoa warns against dumping rubbish in rivers

14:08 pm on 14 December 2007

The American Samoa Department of Public Works is urging the community not to dump rubbish into rivers and streams because it clogs drainage and causes flooding in low-level areas.

It says rubbish dumped in the river behind the LBJ Medical Center caused minor flooding in several parts of the hospital over the weekend.

There were concerns that the hospital could have flooded as happened in 2003 when millions of dollars of damage was caused to hospital equipment.