Jamaica Gleaner

Flooding reported in Montego Bay

By Erica James-King, Staff Reporter

WESTERN BUREAU:
The main thoroughfare linking Trelawny to St. James is now impassable, as drains and a pond in the vicinity of the Salt Marsh main road have overflowed their banks, inundating the roadway.

Steven Shaw, the National Works Agency's (NWA) community relations officer for the western region is advising the public that the alternative route is via Goodwill, Adelphi to Montego Bay.

Meanwhile, Mayor of Falmouth, Jonathan Bartley, is disgruntled that despite pleadings by the Trelawny Parish Council for the NWA to clean the drains along the Salt Marsh main road, they were ignored.

"What we have in Salt Marsh is a situation that could largely have been prevented," lamented Mayor Bartley yesterday. "Since early August we have been imploring the NWA to clean all the drains for which they have responsibility, especially in Salt Marsh, but they have not heeded this call."

In the meantime, the main roads in Bogue and Tucker/Erwin have also been reduced to single lane traffic because of flooding and debris.

"We have sent out some of our equipment to help to clear debris from the Tucker/Erwin road area and also to clean the river which is contributing to the flooding of that main road," Shaw told The Gleaner. "We have also been helping residents in the Catherine Hall/West Green areas of Montego Bay to clear a drain which has been contributing to flooding in the community."

And on the matter of shelters, the Flankers Primary School in St. James is now housing some 50 persons from the flood-prone areas of Flankers and Whitehouse. The families who are staying at that facility say they took precautionary measures to leave their homes before they become affected by flood waters.

Persons staying at the Flankers shelter have been provided with blankets and mattresses by the Zion Church in the community.

In the neighbouring community of Whitehouse several senior citizens and small children were bused to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and the Flankers Primary
School by residents of the area.

Meanwhile, in northern Trelawny at least eight shelters were activated yesterday for persons who had also taken precautionary measures against the possibility of flooding. Those shelters include: Deeside Primary, Bunkers Hill Primary, Wakefield Baptist Church, Wakefield Primary and Hampden Primary.