Horace Fisher, Star Writer
With a severe drought affecting most areas of Jamaica, scores of Rocky Point’s residents in Clarendon are living in knee- deep flood waters, an infestation of mosquitoes and are fearful that they and their belongings will soon get washed out to sea.
The worried residents, pointing to a massive fish kill in the community just days ago, complained that the Rio Minho river is now blocked, and the rising water has been flooding the homes of hundreds of residents along the West End Road for the last three weeks.
The affected residents, pointed to loss of domestic animals, utensils, clothing and other personal items to the water. They lamented that calls to their member of parliament, Rudyard Spencer; the National Work Agency (NWA); and the National Environment and Planning Agency have so far gone unanswered.
“The water come up almost my house, look around the back, everything dead, even the animals; we can’t go through this anymore, a pure mosquitoes down here, it is unbearable,” said Ivy Pryce, a shopkeeper from the area.
Councillor for the Rocky Point Division, Winston Maragh, explained that because of the drought, the river has lost some of its velocity, which rendered it unable to naturally clear the blockage at the point where the river meets the sea at Rocky Point.
“There is a sand bar blocking the river from discharging into the sea. Clearing the sand bar will require a tractor, but when I called the NWA parish manager, I am being told that there isn’t any money to send the tractor here,” Councilor Maragh insisted.
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Clarendon residents fearful of flood waters
