Blocked drains, stagnant water deepen dengue fears
Published:Tuesday | October 9, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter
Residents across the Corporate Area are fearful the number of cases of dengue fever might get worse, especially if more rain means more mosquitoes.
Seaview Gardens residents said they have to lock up as early as 6 p.m. because of the mosquitoes.
"Whenever rain falls, it gets out of hand. It's terrible, terrible, terrible," said one resident with whom The Gleaner spoke yesterday. "It's like at dat time, they come out wid a vengeance."
The woman pointed to the stagnant water-filled Seaview Gully as a mosquito haven.
"Last night (Sunday night) you shoulda see how dem did line out on the wall. Is like it was black paint," she said. "Some houses have mesh or you work wid di mosquito destroyer but is not everybody can manage it."
Councillor tours area
Councillor for the division, Hazel Anderson, who was touring the area yesterday, showed The Gleaner another section of the gully completely blocked by what seemed like hundreds of plastic bottles.
"I believe there have been some cases of dengue reported," she said. "The mosquitoes are as big as flies." Harold Dwyer, who said he has lived in Seaview for 30 years, agreed that the mosquito numbers have grown.
"When cars are passing at night, you look in the lights and you can see the mosquitoes," he said. "Before when you were bitten it would hurt. But it's like with these mosquitoes, when they bite you it burns for hours."
He noted that since the rains there has been a strange fever going around the community as well. The Seaview problem is exacerbated by a broken sewer pipe in the community.
"You should smell the stench coming out of people's bathrooms," said one resident.
By the Rae Town fishing village, which has a perennially blocked gully, fisherfolk said they haven't seen increased mosquito numbers but were still wary.
"That gully needs to be cleaned and even those bushes behind Manley Meadows need to be cleared because they harbour mosquitoes as well," said resident Yvette Sherington.
Along Tower Street in Central Kingston, Adlin Campbell said the mosquitoes are a constant problem, and not just at nights.
"There used to be spraying but is long time I don't see none," she said. "Mi nuh hear about any outbreak of dengue but I fretting about more rain."
Even at the Downtown Transportation Centre, workers noted that mosquitoes come in the early morning hours, usually around 5 a.m.
"They swarm the office. It's not so bad outside because outside is windy," said one staff member.
They admitted the drains along Water Lane don't overflow, but said some workers had reported dengue-like symptoms.