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No report of major flooding in Portmore, says Mayor Thomas

Loop News

September 26, 2022 8:26 PM ET

3 mins read

Portmore Mayor Leon Thomas has disclosed that there have been no report of major flooding in Portmore even as some other sections of the island have experienced adverse weather conditions since Saturday.

“We have a lot of overgrown vegetation and plastic bottles in the drains now, and the rising water levels in several drains is a cause for concern if the heavy rainfall continues into Tuesday, but there have been no reports of major flooding yet,” Mayor Thomas said.

“It’s a good thing that the Portmore Municipal Council had started drain-cleaning exercises in March, but there are several drains which fall under the ambit of the National Works Agency (NWA) that need attention.”

He listed drains in areas such as Greater Portmore, Gregory Park, Portsmouth, Watson Grove, Christian Pen and Independence City.

“These drains are the responsibility of the NWA and are in areas where the Members of Parliament (MPs) have direct responsibility to clean them. The Portmore Municipal Council didn’t get any money from the Government to clean them, we had to source our own revenue to clean the drains in Portmore, and it costs a lot of money to maintain and clean drains to be ready for the hurricane season,” Mayor Thomas added. 

The Meteorological Service has maintained a flash flood warning for low-lying and flood-prone areas for the north eastern and southern parishes, effective until 5am on Tuesday.

In a release on Monday morning, the Met Service extended the flash flood warning for low-lying and flood-prone areas of St Mary, Portland, St Thomas, Kingston and St Andrew, St Catherine and Clarendon.

“We welcome any assistance to carry out drain-cleaning exercises in Portmore. In the meantime, we continue to monitor the rising water levels in the drains of the areas we have mentioned,” Mayor Thomas said.

The Met Service announced that tropical storm Ian has now been upgraded to Hurricane Ian, and is  located near 18.2 degrees north and 82.0 degrees west, or 391 kilometres west-southwest of Negril Point, Jamaica.