Devon Evans,
Gleaner Writer
Ocho Rios:
Flooding in sections of southern St. Ann has left several roads blocked and forced some residents to flee their homes.
Farmers in the area, who suffered millions of dollars in losses from Hurricane Ivan last year, are again badly affected with much of their produce destroyed. One farmer, Lambert Case, lamented that five acres of pumpkin on his farm have been destroyed leaving an estimated loss of some $800,000.
Mr. Case, who lost about 20 acres of pumpkin during Hurricane Ivan last year, said he had to shed tears yesterday morning when he saw the damage that the flood water had wreaked on his fields, and those of his fellow farmers.
In the meantime, several areas of the parish experienced flooding, including Pedro River in south-east St. Ann, Cave Valley, Borobridge, Thatch Walk and Norwood in the south-western region.
The flooding has blocked both the Cave Valley to Borobridge Road and the Cave Valley to James Hill Road at several points. The road to Norwood district has also been flooded while two houses in Borobridge are already under water.
The flooding of the area started last Thursday evening in Borobridge and by yesterday morning some residents of Cave Valley had to be hastily evacuated as large quantities of water came flowing into the town. This flooding is mainly caused by the Cave River overflowing its banks. In Norwood and Thatch Walk, residents have been moved to higher ground because of fears of flooding.
Member of Parliament for South West St. Ann, Ernest Smith, along with some residents, assisted in moving some families to safety yesteray. As flood waters threatened the Cave Valley area, some farmers, who had crops that could be reaped, went into their fields to salvage whatever they could.
Mr. Smith said these farmers are now desperately in need of markets to sell these crops and he made an ardent appeal to operators of hotels, restaurants and fast food outlets to come into the area to buy some of the freshly reaped vegetables and help relieve the farmers of their suffering.
In the meantime, the Cave Valley police is appealing to residents to leave the lower section of the town as flooding "was likely to increase overnight."
