St Bess authorities prepared, but horrors of past flooding haunt Newmarket

WESTERN BUREAU:

Black River Mayor Richard Solomon wants residents in his flood-prone Newmarket division in St Elizabeth to consider evacuating if Hurricane Beryl causes flooding in the low-lying community.

The area has had a long history of devastating flooding, including in 1979 when 600 acres of the community was buried under floodwaters as deep as 90 feet.

“Newmarket does not normally flood overnight. It usually takes weeks of rains to flood out, but nonetheless, if it should flood, we have a partnership with the Jamaica Fire Brigade if there is a need to relocate persons … ,” Solomon told The Gleaner on Monday. “We are still encouraging citizens to relocate if there is a need to because prevention is always better than cure.”

In the 1979 disaster, marooned residents were forced to create makeshift rafts and boats to move around the community to secure food and other supplies, especially for children and the elderly, who were not able navigate the floodwaters.

“I am hoping that Newmarket is not impacted, and I am appealing to the residents to do their part in terms of preparing ... . It is better for us to prepare and nothing comes than not to be prepared and we are caught with our pants down,” said Solomon.

Whenever a major weather system threatens Jamaica, the two most closely watched western Jamaica communities are Newmarket in St Elizabeth and Chigwell in Hanover, which both have a long history of devastating flooding.

“Although it has been nearly 50 years, I still remember it like it was yesterday,” said Maud Simms, who said she grew up hearing about another flood that had impacted Newmarket 40 years before 1979. “It was a frightening experience because we had never seen anything like that before.”

With the Government putting the nation on full alert as Hurricane Beryl rocked Grenada in making landfall in the Caribbean, Solomon says St Elizabeth is in a state of readiness.

“Our emergency operating centre is now up, and we are just awaiting the instruction from ODPEM (Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management) for us to activate. We have the necessary budgetary allocations to implement our response,” explained Solomon. “We have investigated all our shelters, and they are in a state of readiness, and our shelter managers are in place. The necessary resources have been deployed to our shelter managers already, so we are in a state of readiness.”

At the last monthly meeting of the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation, Assistant Commissioner Andrew Russell of the St Elizabeth Division of the Jamaica Fire Brigade urged residents to prepare for any hurricane, noting that experts have predicted an active season.

“Thoroughly check your roofs to see that all zinc or galvanised sheeting are properly in place so that if there is heavy wind, it will not readily dislodge those roofing and cause you to be out of shelter,” warned Russell. “Keep important documents stashed away in sealed plastic bags, store non-perishable items and water, and trim the trees around your homes, especially those close to electrical power lines.”

Russell also urged them to clean drains on their properties to prevent severe flooding, which might necessitate emergency assistance.

adrian.frater@gleanerjm.com