Devon Evans, Gleaner Writer
Cedric Thompson, a resident of Crooked River in Annotto Bay, St. Mary, walks through flood waters that swamped his yard early yesterday morning after all-night showers caused a nearby river to overflow its banks. - IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
OCHO RIOS, St. Ann:
A WOMAN who was washed away in her motor vehicle on the A.G.R. Byfield Highway in St. Ann yesterday was rescued by passing motorists as flood rains battered sections of the parish. She was later hospitalised.
Disaster coordinator for St. Ann, Alvin Clarke, told The Gleaner yesterday evening that 11 houses were affected by flooding, in addition to several other properties and roads.
Most of the flooding took place in the northern region of the parish, resulting in the blockage of the Runaway Bay to Discovery Bay main road at two points.
SOME ROADS CLEARED
These roads were later cleared to allow vehicular traffic to flow by workmen from the St. Ann Bauxite Partners (formerly Kaiser) in Discovery Bay. However, a section of the Dumbarton to Discovery Bay main road remains impassable and so, too, is Wharf Street in St. Ann's Bay at the intersection of Main and Harbour streets.
There were also reports of several interior roads being blocked by flood waters and debris, especially in Cardiff Hall.
The rainfall, which began shortly after 1:00 a.m., washed debris on to the Runaway Bay to Discovery Bay main road, cutting off both towns, and also blocked the Cardiff Hall road and the nearby compound of the Karl Rattray Staff College. Along the Runaway Bay main road, water from Coxheath gully swept across the road, damaging three houses. The Fisherman's Beach was also badly affected.
Residents along the Runaway Bay to Discovery Bay main road are blaming the contractors of the North Coast Highway for causing the flooding, arguing that unfinished sections were the main flash points.
