Resident fears flooding in Friendship in Trelawny

With outer bands from Hurricane Beryl lashing the island with heavy rain and gusty winds, a concern is emerging that the Friendship community in Trelawny could be isolated if the roadway to neighbouring Wakefield floods.

“My area is prone to flooding, because in some places the water gets really high, and from here to go to Wakefield there is a part that can be blocked off by water,” said Conesia Ambersley, a resident of Friendship in the western parish. 

“Once you leave Wakefield and you're heading to Bounty Hall, there's another part that could get flooded. Also, where the Muschett High School is near Wakefield, and slightly before you get to Muschett coming from Montego Bay [in St James], it gets blocked with water during heavy rain,” Ambersley added.

“I don't know if we can go through the Good Hope community, because they say that some parts of Good Hope might get flooded as well. We might be marooned.”

Heavy rains had previously made sections of the Wakefield roadway impassable, with the community's main road to Falmouth blocked during rains in 2018 and the corridor to Bunkers Hill being flooded in 2022.

In June this year, the National Works Agency undertook a major drain cleaning programme along the Wakefield to Hampden main road in Trelawny ahead of the 2024 hurricane season.

The programme also encompassed communities in Hanover, St James, and Westmoreland.

- Christopher Thomas

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