Communities counting the costs after floods in Jamaica

The cost of damage caused by three days of torrential rain in Jamaica is yet to be established, the government has said.

Earlier this week JM$175 million was allocated by the local government ministry to communities across six parishes that had been cut off by the weather.

And the estimated cost of storms just weeks ago reached JM$500 million.

There have been no reports of deaths so far but more than 30 people have been rescued by the Jamaica Defence Force and the Jamaica Fire Brigade.

The country’s infrastructure has been hit hard by three days of relentless rain, with some areas being showered with a month’s rain.

A number of rivers burst their banks and bridges washed away as a weather trough affected the central Caribbean.

Aenon Town in Clarendon suffered up to 17 feet of flooding, according to the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management.

Horace Chang – acting prime minister while Andrew Holness is overseas – said St Thomas, Kingston, St Andrew, St Catherine, Manchester, parts of Westmoreland, St Mary, Portland and sections of northern St Ann were also severely impacted.

“The volume of rainfall over the last 24 hours [between Monday and Tuesday], in particular, has caused severe infrastructural and agricultural damage, dislocation, and major inconvenience, especially for students who are sitting secondary exit exams.”

“The reports have been coming in fast from Westmoreland to St Thomas and Trelawny to Portland of inundated roads and farmlands, lost crops, flooded communities, breakaways and landslides, and citizens who have been marooned or were in distress,” Dr Chang stated.

The parishes of St James, Trelawny and Hanover were the only ones who escaped horrendous damage, Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie said.