Omen feared as 78-y-o dies in flood

When Clinton Boothe didn’t see his 78-year-old brother-in-law return home all day after trudging off in knee-high water Friday morning, he became haunted by a nagging sense of dread.

The body of Dennis Jackson, found slumped over a metal pipe that runs through a nearby trench Saturday morning, confirmed the omen that hung over Boothe in Longwood, a community in Race Course, Clarendon, on Saturday.

Jackson is the only direct or indirect casualty of Tropical Storm Ida, which drenched the island for two days last week, delivering its most merciless blows to the central Jamaica parish.

Boothe said that he had a gut feeling something would go awry when the elderly man decided to leave home during heavy rainfall that left several sections of southeastern Clarendon under water.

The family said Jackson had been instructed by his sister to stay home because “rain a fall and corona[virus] deh a road”. However, those words did not deter him.

“It’s like me know say something bad a go happen,” Boothe said.

Speaking with The Gleaner at the family home, Boothe said he knew that his relative had drowned when he did not return home by Friday evening.

“This morning, mi nuh see him and mi a say, ‘Him drown, you know,’ but mi a look fi him down a Alley or Water Lane ‘cause the water move swift across the road there and he is a man weh love go Race Course,” Boothe said.

Jackson, a music enthusiast, was described as the “vibes man” by his family, which said they would miss his jovial demeanour.

Jackson’s nephew, Clayton, has blamed his uncle’s death on an uncleaned gully that runs through the community.

Clayton claimed that for decades, Longwood has been neglected by political representatives. He said that the tragedy was heart-rending.

“If we get the proper gully and drainage and it rains, the river and the sea is right down there, so it would take [the water] away in no time,” he said.

Clayton said the gully is cleaned once or twice every five years.

But Winston Maragh, mayor of May Pen and councillor for the Rocky Point division, denied the claims, stating that said gully is maintained annually and was cleaned earlier this year.

Maragh said several communities across the division and neighbouring divisions experienced flooding, arguing that the deluge was inescapable.

“No amount of drain cleaning couldn’t stop flood rain. We had 12 inches of rain,” the mayor said.

“The amount of water that was in Longwood yesterday (Friday), people were driving boat up and down the road whole day.”

olivia.brown@gleanerjm.com