ESTIMATES ON the extent of the damage to roads and other public infrastructure by last week's flood rains in St. Ann, St. Mary, Portland are not likely to be ready before Thursday.
Director-General of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Dr. Barbara Carby, said yesterday, that teams from the National Works Agency (NWA), the various parish disaster committees, the ODPEM and the Ministry of Agriculture were in the affected parishes assessing the damage caused by recent heavy rains.
"We don't have any costs yet but hopefully in another two or three days we will get information," she said.
Heads of all the other organisations involved gave similar answers. Ivan Anderson, head of the NWA told The Gleaner that financial estimates for infrastructure under NWA care should be available Friday, or at the latest next Monday, as the team was focusing on clearing blocked roads and patching potholes, many of which were re-opened during the heavy battering that the roads took last week.
The Portland Parish Council, which is responsible for some roads, was also taking similar action. "What we are doing now is trying to clear roads so the roads will become accessible," said Fay Neufville, Portland's Parish Disaster Co-ordinator at the ODPEM.
Mrs. Neufville said roads along the western end of Portland which incorporates areas such as Bull Bay and Heart Hill, were among the areas hardest hit by the deluge. "They were bad but now they are worse," she remarked, despair lacing her voice.
Mrs. Neufville said that an assessment of the roads under the parish council care had been done and preliminary estimates were that it would take at least $3 million to repair them. Welfare estimates would be known by Wednesday as assessors seek to reach persons in deep rural areas that are currently without any form of communication, she continued.
More than 40 residents were evacuated from Lynch Avenue, Lower Kildare, Mannings Avenue and Norman Lane in the parish.
Hundreds of residents in the three parishes spent much of Saturday and Sunday sweeping out waterlogged homes and watching water levels slowly recede while the various authorities began cleaning debris from some badly scoured roads.
Meanwhile the police and rescue teams have still not been able to find the body of Christopher Tate, 31, who was swept away as he tried to cross the Pagee River in St. Mary last Thursday.
Cecil Bailey, the ODPEM's Director of Preparedness, said that there was some extensive damage to roads along Washington Drive "which will need some work" in Parry Town, St. Ann.
The Top and Gully roads were partially blocked by fallen trees while landslides were reported in the Sandside and Islington areas and Hyatt Hill Road, near Gayle.
