Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
A man removes sand from the main road near the flooded Flat Bridge in the Bog Walk gorge, in St. Catherine, yesterday, after persistent rains this week made the main connecting route between the Corporate Area and the country's north coast impassable.- Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer
Unstable weather conditions which have been affecting the island since last Saturday, yesterday, left several places flooded, drove many into shelters, dislocated water mains and forced the closure of several schools.
Yesterday, the Meteorological Service extended the flash-flood warning for low-lying and flood-prone areas of central and western parishes until 5:00 this morning, while lifting the warning for eastern parishes.
According to Ronald Moodie, duty forecaster at the Met Office, the area of low pressure across the western Caribbean continues to generate unstable weather conditions across the region, including Jamaica.
normalcy expected tomorrow
"We are still having some rainfall across the island. We are anticipating that we should return to some level of normalcy on Sunday," he said.
Meanwhile, reports from the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) yesterday were that some 46 persons were being housed in the Wesleyan Holiness Church, in Rocky Point, Clarendon.
"There were other shelters opened over the period, but those were closed down," Ronald Jackson, director general of ODPEM told The Gleaner Power 106 News. These include the Yallahs New Testament Church of God in St Thomas, which was housing 31 persons, and the Edith Dalton James High School in Duhaney Park, St. Andrew, which had six persons taking refuge there.
Yesterday, the ODPEM also reported that the Bog Walk gorge in St. Catherine was closed and the Flat Bridge made inaccessible by dangerously high waters. Motorists were advised to use th routes through Sligoville and Barry.
The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) reported that 54 persons were rescued from the Gorge on Thursday night, including a pregnant woman and another who had just done surgery.
Lieutenant Colonel, Jeoffrey Roper, commanding officer of the JDF Air Wing said the rescue operations lasted almost two and a half hours.
"It was very difficult. It was some challenging flying. As you can imagine the weather conditions were difficult with lots of rain and because of where the people were. Many were caught into the side of the hill," he explained.
The Red Cross of Jamaica has activated its 13 branches islandwide in light of the flooding in some parishes. Director of Emergency Service at the Red Cross, Marcia Sinclair, said the agency had been working in the parishes of St. Thomas, St. Catherine and Westmoreland. She said the agency also assisted a family yesterday morning in the Mannings Hills community of St Andrew, after a section of their house collapsed during the heavy rains.
And the National Water Commission also reported that operations at a number of its water and wastewater systems had been severely hampered by the heavy rains. Muddy inflows or high turbidity levels affected the system, blocked intakes and dislocated pipelines.
The inclement weather has forced a change in the venue for the National honours and awards ceremony. The ceremony, which was originally scheduled for the lawns of King's House, will instead take place inside the National Indoor Sports Centre on Monday, National Heroes Day, starting at 9:00 a.m.
Despite the poor weather conditions, Jamaicans near and far yesterday braved the rain to make it to the US Embassy where they had visa appointments.
As early as 6:30 a.m, The Gleaner news team saw scores of persons at the entrance of the embassy armed with their umbrellas, determined to make the appointment which most of them had waited months for.
dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com
