Gov’t tallying cost of rain damage

Teams from municipal corporations are currently undertaking assessments to determine the extent of damage from the adverse weather system, Potential Tropical Cyclone 22, which affected the island, between November 16 and 17.

Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Desmond McKenzie, said they are working in tandem with the National Works Agency (NWA) to come up with a clear picture of what has taken place. The weather system produced heavy rains and strong and gusty winds, especially over southern and eastern parishes.

McKenzie said preliminary assessments indicate that East Rural St Andrew, parts of the Corporate Area, as well as sections of St Catherine, St Thomas and Clarendon, are among the areas that have been badly affected by the system. He said there have been no reports of deaths or major injuries.

Acting Director General, Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, Richard Thompson, noted that the entity continues to receive information that will be shared with the relevant agencies and ministries.

"So far, we have roughly nine parishes with predominant damage being in St Thomas, Clarendon, Kingston and St Andrew and we have received information as well for St Elizabeth, Manchester, Trelawny and Portland.

"We continue to generate the reports and we continue to ensure that the information is passed on to all the agencies that are a part of the National Disaster Risk Management set-up, so that the appropriate decisions can be made in terms of what we do going forward," he said.