Continuous rainfall yesterday affected the progress of the National Works Agency (NWA) in reopening roads that have been affected by heavy rains, which lashed St Mary, Portland and St Thomas.

A persistent trough across the central Caribbean, which resulted in heavy rains Sunday night and into yesterday morning, caused flooding and landslides in the three parishes.

The unstable weather condition has caused the Meteorological Service to issue a flash-flood warning until 5 this morning for the parishes of St Ann, St Mary, Portland and St Thomas.

Single-lane traffic

The NWA said nearly 40 roadways have been affected by flooding, washed-down silt and blocked culverts.

Steven Shaw, manager of communications and customer services at the NWA, said the bulk of the damage has been reported in St Mary, with reports of 10 road sections being blocked up to early yesterday afternoon. Another 15 have been reduced to single-lane traffic.

Shaw said heavy equipment had been deployed throughout the parish but heavy rains and soft subsurfaces were impeding the progress of works in some areas. He noted that roadways were also reblocked by landslides.

Assessments

The communications manager said technical officers from the NWA were, up to yesterday, carrying out assessments in the affected parishes and the roadways would be reopened as soon as the weather allowed.

The trough is expected to linger over the central Caribbean for the next few days, resulting in increased showers, mainly across northern parishes.

The Meteorological Office said the forecast is for frequent showers to continue into today. Flash flooding is expected over low lying areas.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com