St James emergency entities on standby to rescue residents in flood-prone areas
Published:Tuesday | November 5, 2024 | 12:08 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Roland Haye, the western regional coordinator for the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), has asked disaster management entities in St James to be on standby today, should there be a need to evacuate residents who might be trapped in flood-prone areas during Tropical Storm Rafael, which was expected to begin impacting the island last night.
Haye was speaking during Sunday’s emergency online meeting of stakeholders in St James, to assess the parish’s readiness ahead of the storm.
Yesterday, the storm, which had maximum sustained winds of up to 55 kilometres per hour, was slated to come close to the northwest of Jamaica before moving over The Cayman Islands tomorrow.
“The vulnerability to flooding means that we have to take all the necessary precautions, Montego Bay in particular, with its several gullies,” said Haye. “We need to put out an alert to persons who may venture out, especially during heavy downpours and thunderstorms, as they could get trapped, and we have seen in the past where lives have been lost because of people trying to negotiate flooded thoroughfares, and we do not want to lose any lives from this system.
“The parish emergency system should be on full alert and be ready to act if the situation warrants. Usually, the activation of the emergency operations shelter (EOC) is something we can consider, probably by early afternoon or late morning on Monday, and primarily to monitor what is happening and to ensure that we have a coordinated approach to respond to incidents.
“With regard to shelters, we need to put shelter managers on alert and provide whatever support the parish EOC can give to these shelter managers, and to be on standby to evacuate persons who may need to be evacuated, should their situation become dire,” Haye added.
LONG HISTORY
St James has had a long history of flooding across different communities during heavy rain, dating as far back as 1979 when rains associated with a passing tropical depression forced the closure of the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, and resulted in floodwaters passing through the township and the communities of Flanker and Canterbury.
In November 2017, heavy rains resulted in sections of Montego Bay’s downtown business district being flooded and covered in mud for several days. More recently, on August 31 this year, a river in the John’s Hall district overflowed its banks and flooded the community during a downpour.
Haye told Sunday’s meeting that initial assessments suggest that there may not be a need to shut down the Jamaica Public Service Company’s (JPS) power grid, a preventive measure that is usually taken to protect Jamaica’s electrical power infrastructure during a storm.
“The JPS has issued a press release to say they are ready and standing by to respond as best they can. Based on the system, there is no need to shut down the national grid, and usually the national grid will be shut down six hours before landfall, but that is usually for a Category-2 hurricane,” said Haye. “We are not sure if this weather incident will get up to a tropical storm but, whether or not it does, we are going to get a lot of rain, and we should be prepared to deal with that as best we can.”
In the meantime, Naudia Crosskill, the St James Municipal Corporation’s chief executive officer, told the meeting that all of St James’ 58 designated shelters are fully equipped and that the shelter managers are ready to act as needed.