John Myers Jr., Staff Reporter
Residents of Kennedy Grove, May Pen, look on in disbelief at submerged houses in the Clarendon community, yesterday. - PHOTOS BY RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
HURRICANE WILMA continued to pound the island with heavy rains yesterday, triggering landslides, marooning communities and sending residents scurrying for safety in emergency shelters.
Glenroy Brown, duty forecaster at the National Meteorological Centre, said the country was still under a flash flood warning.
"The centre of the system is still in close proximity to the island and throughout that period we are still expecting outbreaks of showers and thunderstorms," he told The Gleaner last night.
Mr. Brown said the weather would not improve until about tomorrow when the tropical cyclone, which was upgraded to a Category Two hurricane late yesterday, would be further away from the island.
Already the damage is expected to cost the country millions of dollars as many properties have been destroyed, roads eroded and communities submerged as a result of raging waters generated by the tropical cyclone.
Yesterday, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management said there were 378 persons being housed in shelters in the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew, St. Catherine and Clarendon. Several persons had to be rescued by the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) and the Jamaica Fire Brigade in Big Pond, St. Catherine, and Four Paths, Clarendon, after flood waters cut off their communities.
EMERGENCY FOOD TO BE DISTRIBUTED
Prime Minister P.J. Patterson yesterday issued instructions for emergency food supplies to be distributed to communities that had been cut off following a meeting of the National Disaster Committee at Jamaica House.
A release from the Office of the Prime Minister said the JDF should provide assistance in distributing relief supplies to affected areas.
Heavy rains also left a number of communities in St. Andrew without electricity yesterday. The Jamaica Public Service Company said service may be restored today in Golden Hill, Cavaliers, Lucky Hill, Castle James, Coopers Hill, Content Gap, Eight Miles, Jacks Hill, Paul Mount and Above Rocks. The company said it was being hampered by inaccessibility to a number of areas.
The National Solid Waste Management Authority warned that there would be delays in garbage collection across the island because of the bad weather and blocked roads. In the meantime, residents have been asked to properly package waste material.
Several roads, mainly in the parishes of Hanover, St. James, St. Elizabeth, Manchester, Clarendon, St. Catherine, St. Mary and St. Andrew, have either been flooded or made impassable due to landslides or breakaways.
All schools will remain closed at least until tomorrow, after which an assessment will be carried out to determine the feasibility of reopening on Friday.
The nation's courts joined the list of organisations which had to cancel proceedings as many witnesses and jurors who were summoned to attend court were absent. The cases were put off for mention on dates in October and November.
The United States National Hurricane Center said Hurricane Wilma was expected to produce an additional five to 10 inches of rainfall over Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Cuba and Haiti.
At 4:00 p.m. yesterday, the centre of Hurricane Wilma was located about 375 kilometres south-west of Negril Point.
Wilma is expected to generate into a Category Four storm later this week.
