Rock River residents want poor drainage to be fixed

AS THE hurricane season gets into high gear, some residents of Rock River in northern Clarendon are apprehensive about the damage and loss of livelihood that can arise from a drain at the back of their houses.

Rosetta Taylor, who is leading the charge in ensuring that the damage suffered in previous years does not reoccur, says a group signed and submitted a letter to the Clarendon Municipal Corporation, and to date, the situation has not been remedied.

Commenting on the situation which, she says, has been plaguing them for many years now, Taylor said there is a trench leading from the Baptist Church which runs across the road and through her land, and continues through several other properties, then empties itself into the Juan De Bolas River (Rock River).

“This trench carries a lot of water and other debris whenever it rains uncontrollably, and destroys crops, animals, poultry and pigs in its path,” said Taylor, adding that she can’t put into figure how many pigs and chickens she has lost over the years, as they drowned in the water that submerged the pen and coop.

TIRED OF COMPLAINING

“I am tired of complaining, and right now I haven’t put any hogs into the pen because I really don’t want another incident where I end up losing big time,” she shared with The Gleaner.

Uriah Mitchell, councillor for the division, said the corporation is aware of the situation and is seeking to address it.

“What we are doing is trying to seek out funding as it relates to getting that situation remedied. We have also had discussions with the community and the Parish Development Committee (PDC), because we have to go through some persons’ properties and few of them have already agreed, so the process has started in that aspect,” he said, adding that the plan was to address the issue before the hurricane season.

He said the council is moving hastily to mitigate any damage in that area.

The councillor also shared that he had reached out to the PDC regarding writing a project proposal to the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica, in the hope that funding could be had to tackle the issue.