Transport and Works Minister Robert Pickersgill (right) looks over documents presented to him by manager of communications and customer service at the National Works Agency (NWA), Vando Palmer (centre), while chief executive officer of the NWA, Ivan Anderson looks on. Occasion was yesterday's press briefing to update the media on the conditions of roads across the island following rainfall associated with Hurricane Charley. The briefing was held at the NWA's head office on Maxfield Avenue in Kingston.

THE government was yesterday still assessing the cost of the damage done to Jamaica by Hurricane Charley, which brushed the island's southern section on Wednesday.

But the works minister, Robert Pickersgill, claimed yesterday that whatever the final bill, it would have been substantially higher, were it not for a $134-million project launched in June to clean drains and gullies and to desilt rivers.

"The proof of the pudding is in the eating," Pickersgill told reporters yesterday as he announced that it would cost $7.6 million just to clear the roads blocked by land slips, fallen trees and other debris during the hurricane. The bulk of the money for the clean-up - $4.2 million - will go to the south central parish of St Elizabeth, which was hardest hit by the storm.

Large areas of south St Elizabeth were flooded from the torrential rains that accompanied Charley, marooning communities, damaging homes, destroying crops and drowning livestock.

One man also drowned in the parish as he attempted to rescue a family stranded atop their flooded homes.

Yesterday, Jamaica Agriculture Society (JAS) vice president Kingsley Clarke said that government will have to provide financial support for farmers in St Elizabeth and nearby Manchester, who suffered from Charley.

According to Clarke, farms from New Forest in Manchester to Pedro in St Elizabeth lost huge crops of carrots, onions, escallion, thyme, pepper, beans, vegetables and watermelons, and this loss was likely to push up the price of these commodities.

Prior to the storm, south St Elizabeth had been suffering from a drought.

"The problem has only moved from one extreme to another," Clarke said.

Two JAS officers were already working with officials of the government's Rural Agricultural Development Agency (RADA) to determine the full extent of the losses and what has to be done to help farmers.

"The matter has to be dealt with expeditiously to save the farmers who were already into their planting season, and to rescue the consumers from higher prices," Clarke said.

But as bad as things may be in some communities, they may have been worse, according to Pickersgill.

"I am convinced that even though we are not yet finished with (the drain-clearing) exercise, the work that has been accomplished has resulted in minimal flooding in these areas that are perennially flood-prone," Pickersgill said.

"Our mitigation programme targets critical. areas where hundreds, if not thousands, of people are affected year after year when there is heavy rainfall," he added.

Of the $134 million allocated for the pre-hurricane preparations, $100 million went to the works ministry and $34 million to the local government ministry, which has responsibility for local roads and gullies.

"The works now in progress are in various stages of completion and range from a minimum of five per cent to 100 per cent," said Pickersgill.

"As we speak, we are continuing cleaning exercises on 10 small gullies and drains in Kingston, which in most cases started last week," he added. "These range from Majesty Gardens to Whitfield Town, to Foreshow Road to Hagley Park Road between Waltham Park Road and Three Miles, to Marcus Garvey Drive to Jew Gully, to the road by the AMC Market on Spanish Town Road and sections of the Constant Spring Gully."

But Pickersgill admitted that since the end of the maintenance cycle for side drains, inlets, outlets and catchment basins in April, another cycle was yet to begin.
However, he said that tenders had been launched for five parishes and work should begin by December of this year.

Pickersgill also said that he was aware that many gullies were in an advanced state of disrepair and that the government was committed to repairing them over time but this required considerable resources.

Pickersgill's up-date in the cleaning of gullies

. Sommerfield and Jack's gullies, the RBTT drain in May Pen, Clarendon, 100 per cent complete.

. Desilting of the Bull Park River at 10 Miles Bull Bay, 90 per cent complete.

. Seven drains in Grange Hill, Westmoreland, 90 per cent complete.

. Balcares in Portland, 90 per cent complete.

. Bailey's Vale/Harmony Hall in St Mary 55 per cent complete.

. Balaclava Drain in St Elizabeth, 50 per cent complete.

. Havendale Gully, 100 per cent complete, and Ackee Walk and Forest Hill gullies in St Andrew, 100 per cent complete.

. Mico Gully in Kingston, 60 per cent complete.

. Ocho Rios main drain in St Ann 100 per cent complete.

Halle Berry and her picture-perfect family co-ordinate in grey

Cheating PS

'What was I thinking?' Chris Brown speaks out