THE HEAVY rains of Hurricane Isidore have left several sections of the main road leading to St. Thomas eroded. Up to late yesterday evening the Yallahs Fording was impassable.
At one stage, a bulldozer attempted to clear debris from roadway. Hustlers were out in their numbers, offering to guide motorists through knee-high water for a token.
In Hanover at the Lucea police station, wind gusts broke several glass windows sending a number of the lawmen running for cover. The entire ground floor of the station was covered in water and documents in some departments were damaged.
Uprooted trees blocked roads in the Hopewell, Dias and Eden communities. Flooding was also reported in the Riley Bridge area, Johnson Town and Kew districts.
In Westmoreland, a child sustained minor injuries when she was hit by a falling tree in the Sterling area of Grange Hill. Emergency Medical Service personnel attached to the Savanna-la-Mar Fire Department told The Gleaner that the child was trapped under the tree for a short while.
Firefighters used power saws to cut fallen trees which blocked roads in Seaton Crescent, Paradise Road, Upper Rickets Avenue and Darling Street.
Students from Frome Technical in the parish were marooned in the institution for several hours yesterday, due to the heavy rains. The Three Miles River main road near Georges Plain was under several feet of water, and remained impassable for much of the day.
According to the Morgan's Bridge police, due to the flooding along the Three Miles River main road, hundreds of students heading home were stranded for hours waiting for transportation home.
Among the areas in the parish hardest hit by the flooding were: New Market Oval, Bath, Smith Field, Bath, Darling Street, Seaton Crescent, Wharf Road, Georges Plain, McNeill Lands, and Grange Hill. Yesterday afternoon, Grange Hill was inaccessible from Frome/Savanna-la-Mar via Morgan's Bridge which became impassable.
Disaster co-ordinator for Westmoreland, Hilma Tate, expressed concerns that clogged drains in McNeill Lands area were proving problematic up to last week, and are currently in need of cleaning.
