FIFTEEN people were stranded in the Bog Walk Gorge in St Catherine up to press time yesterday, as heavy rains associated with Hurricane Paloma dumped several inches of rain on the island.

Several homes and major roads across the island were also flooded, and a number of vehicles were reportedly washed away by rising flood waters.

These police officers gaze at what is left of a car which was washed away by flood waters along the Chapelton main road in Clarendon, just seconds after Georgia Bennett, her two young children - ages seven and nine - and a friend were rescued from inside. (Photo: Llewelyn Winter)

Georgia Bennett, her two young children and a friend were rescued from their vehicle by other motorists seconds before it was washed away by flood waters.

A hearse and two cars also washed away along the Chapelton main road in Clarendon. There were no reports of injuries.

Bennett told the Sunday Observer that she was driving along the Chapelton main road when she saw a big gush of water coming at the car. She said she tried to reverse, but the water was too swift.

"When I realise I have no control of the car, me see me life come before me," she recalled. She said they were assisted by motorists who got them out of the car only seconds before another gush of water took it away.

"I was on my way to my shop, so all my goods and even my ID - everything wash way," she told the Sunday Observer.
Powerful Hurricane Paloma slammed into southern Cuba yesterday as authorities scrambled to move hundreds of thousands of people to safer ground and protect crops on an island still reeling from two other devastating storms, according to the Associated Press.

Paloma made landfall near Santa Cruz del Sur as an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, but quickly weakened into a still-ferocious Category 3 with winds of 120 mph (195 kph) and torrential rains, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The Meteorological Service in Kingston reported yesterday that due to the proximity of Hurricane Paloma to Jamaica, a flash flood warning remains in effect for all parishes until today.

"The forecast is for periods of showers and thunderstorms to continue affecting the island tonight (Saturday) and tomorrow (today) with higher than normal waves across western and northern coastal areas as Paloma moves across Cuba," the met office reported.

A gradual reduction in rainfall is, however, expected over the island by tomorrow, although a broad trough should generate afternoon thunderstorms islandwide.

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) yesterday reported flooding in several communities in south-western Clarendon and sections of St Elizabeth.

Donovan Pagon, councillor of the Braes River division in St Elizabeth, said Pepper and Goshen main roads were the most affected with very high flood waters. He said if the rain continued into today, then some homes along Church Road could be flooded out from a gully which is overflowing its bank.

The entrance to Portland Cottage in Clarendon was also inundated with rising water, while the residents living along the Jack's and Flemmings gullies from May Pen to Four Paths were threatened by flood waters.

Meanwhile, senior director of mitigation planning and research at ODPEM Michelle Edwards expressed disappointment that despite the many warnings issued, persons could still have risked travelling through the Gorge.
She urged persons to continue to monitor the updates given and to take the necessary precaution.

Communications manager at the National Works Agency Stephen Shaw said there has not been any reports of major damage to roads as yet since most areas are affected only by flood waters.

He said they will have to go back to reopening some drains that had been cleaned after Tropical Storm Gustav, but which are again blocked.

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