Ross Sheil and Gareth Davis, Gleaner Writers

The remains of a house on Red Hassel Road in Port Antonio, Portland, in which 53-year-old domestic helper Pauline Shalland was killed during a landslide on Thursday night. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

A flash-flood warning has been extended for the island until late this evening following torrential rains in the north-eastern parishes which led to the death of one woman in a landslide in Portland and provided cover for the looting of a Courts furniture store in St. Mary.

The major roads along the north coast were flooded, some of the interior roads which were damaged remained impassable, and the National Water Commission (NWC) has warned that areas in Portland, St. Ann, St. Mary and St. James have been experiencing supply disruptions.

Totally destroyed

In Port Antonio, Portland, the two-bedroom hillside residence on Red Hassel Road belonging to 53-year-old Pauline 'Junie' Shalland and Cecil 'Bully' Cover, 50, was almost totally destroyed by a landslide that occurred after 1:00 a.m. Mr. Cover was retrieved from the debris in the early hours by neighbours after the landslide carried him down the hill.

However it was not until after 11 a.m. that Mrs. Shalland was found dead, trapped by a fallen beam against a wall. Mr. Cover is recovering in the Port Antonio Hospital from injuries.

Neighbours described Mrs. Shalland, a domestic helper, as a hard-working and caring woman.

"She would call me in the morning every time she woke up, she was such a good person," said 64-year-old next-door neighbour Lorris Wilson who fled her house in the night after hearing the impact of the landslide.

"I was in there and hearing the rain falling so heavy. I keep listening and then I heard something come on to the house and I knew it was a landslide."

PM condolences

In a statement Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller offered her condolences to the family of Mrs. Shalland and said she had instructed Dean Peart, Minister of Local Government and Environment, to lead a team to visit the area and prepare a damage report.

Corporal Angella McTaggart, Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) liaison officer for St. Mary, said the police are now on the hunt for the goods that were taken from the Courts Furniture store.

Daryl Vaz, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) caretaker for West Portland, yesterday called for emergency funding to rehabilitate the area. Mr. Vaz said there had been poor maintenance of drains and a lack of river training over the years.

In Portland, a reported 60 persons were staying with relatives after rivers overflowed their banks forcing them to evacuate their homes at Shoesbury, Commodore, Orange Bay and Fruitful Vale.

Denise Lewis, parish coordinator at the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), said only one disaster shelter is now opened in East Portland and that emergency teams remained in a state of readiness.

In St. Ann, the Ocho Rios Health Centre had to be closed for a second day due to flooding. A representative from the facility said that, while most sections of of the health centre are expected to be operational by Monday, the dental section will have to cancel all appointments because of water damage to its only dental chair.

Arthur Hosang, Superintendent of Road and Works at the St. Ann Parish Council, appealed for emergency funds to begin drain cleaning work on a number of roads in the parish.

Mr. Hosang said that, with most of the drains blocked, further heavy rain could cause worse flooding especially in the lower sections of St. Ann's Bay and Ocho Rios.

Mayor of Port Maria, Bobby Montague said that, in Jacks River alone, 30 houses were flooded. There was also flooding in Annotto Bay, Boscobel and Heywood Hall where a bridge collapsed and several farms were flooded.

- Correspondent Devon Evans also contributed to this story