Claude Mills, Rural News Coordinator
Landslides in Castleton, St. Mary, on Tuesday, brought huge boulders from the hillside on to the roadway, trapping scores of motorists for more than 24 hours. Some sought refuge in the Castleton Botanical Gardens. - IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
THREE PERSONS died yesterday as torrential rains triggered massive mudslides in St. Mary, marooned hundreds of motorists, and caused major flooding in northern St. Catherine and Trelawny.
In St. Mary, 85-year-old Eva Thompson of Sue River district was confirmed dead when her house was crushed by a rockslide, while a man known as Neddy Mills, the father of three children, was washed away by heavy flood waters while attempting to assist a motorcyclist. A student, 15-year-old Markland Small of Harewood, Sandy Gut, St. Catherine, is believed to be dead after he was washed away at a ford in the Troja area on Tuesday. His body was not found up to press time last night.
Reports are that Markland was among a group of four other students crossing the ford at Ginger Hall when the waters snatched him away. The body of Mr. Mills, an employee of the Castleton Botanical Gardens, has also not been found.
ABANDONED HOPE
According to Donald Small, Markland's father, he had warned his son on Tuesday morning that if it were to rain, he should not go to school. With tears running down his eyes, the distraught father choked as he admitted that he had abandoned hope of seeing his son alive.
"I know that he is dead. However, the last honourable thing I would want to do is search the river course and find his body," Mr. Small said.
In the meantime, the awful panorama of devastation along the Junction main road and its environs became evident with sunrise yesterday. On Tuesday night, massive landslides cut off large stretches of the road, leaving hundreds of persons marooned in their vehicles in a major traffic snarl. Passengers had no choice but to sleep in their cars. In the morning, several people navigated dangerous terrain, sometimes balancing on the edges of mud-swamped bridges spanning deep precipices, just to get to their homes. On the trek, some fell into three-foot deep rivers of mud at some spots.
Several roads, such as Camberwalk to Rosemount, Bernard to Freetown and Golden Valley to Gibbs Hill, leading to Border, remained blocked last night. Four houses in Castleton were washed away by the floods.
According to weather experts, the intermittent showers in St. Mary last week intensified into fierce thunderstorms Monday and Tuesday night, dumping several inches of rain on already saturated land, resulting in the mudslides.
MORE HEAVY RAINFALL
In the meantime, the rest of the country is bracing for heavy rainfall that authorities warned could cause more deadly mudslides and flash floods.
"The remnants of Tropical Depression 27 have got caught up with a large area of low pressure in the south-west Caribbean. It is now an enlarged system that will expand and affect northern and southern parishes tonight (last night) and tomorrow with heavy thunderstorms on the south coast," duty forecaster Adrian Shaw of the National Meteorological Centre said last night.
A Gleaner news team went to the nearby Sandy Gut area where landslides had dumped debris and boulders in sections of the community.
In the Bog Walk gorge, several men were spotted collecting money from motorists who ventured into the area, despite warnings from the authorities. At least one motorist, Bruce Green, almost lost his life when his truck plunged into the murky waters at the Flat Bridge. Green was rescued by local fishermen and is now a patient in the Spanish Town Hospital.
- Additional reporting by Rasbert Turner, Lisia Lynch, Richard Morais and Howard Campbell
