Jamaica PM blames flooding on 'ineffective infrastructure'

The prime minister of Jamaica has pledged to take a "closer look" at infrastructure management and development after the country plagued by flooding.

Heavy rain over the weekend affected many areas, including Clarendon and St Thomas, causing landslides, loss of power and traffic delays.

In Portland, 16 homes were affected by the rain.

A number of areas opened overnight shelters as people struggled to cope with the downpour. No injuries or deaths have been reported.

In a statement, the prime minister said that the effects of the rain can "largely be attributed to the country's lack of capacity to deal with these extraordinary weather events".

Existing drains were not built to deal with the large volume of water from 48 hours of heavy rainfall, Holness said in a meeting.

"We have an extraordinary weather event that is causing problems on out decade's old drainage system," he said.

"As a country our development has not kept pace with out ability to deal with run off, solid waste management and other environmental issues.

Adding to that, past administrations have not managed the development process effectively to ensure that the increased capacity of the drainage systems matches the level of physical development."

The prime minister also noted that his government must move quickly to deal with these issues as global warming could make them more likely.