MONTEGO BAY, St James – The National Works Agency (NWA), which is responsible for cleaning the country’s main drains, expects to complete in a week all the work necessary to minimise the flooding that affects western Jamaican communities each hurricane season.

In the meantime, residents from Trelawny to Westmoreland are taking early precautions to secure property and possessions, mindful of the havoc wreaked on lives last year by storm events that reached record levels.

NWA communications manager Stephen Shaw says the region’s fate is really up to its residents.

“If persons who live in upscale communities don’t see the importance of proper garbage disposal, or the environmental impact that improper garbage disposal has, they’ll have no one to blame but themselves,” said Shaw.

“It’s a message that we continue to preach, but I am not sure that message is getting across as effectively as it ought to.”

NWA had announced a $22 million drain cleaning programme for western Jamaica.

A week into the storm season, which began June 1, the agency had completed 60 per cent of drain works, including clearance of garbage and debris, “but it is really up to the residents to dispose of their garbage properly,” said Shaw, “otherwise we will be back at square one.”

The agency spokesman was referring, in particular, to the North Gully, South Gully, Pyre River, and the Chelsea drains near the Irwin community in St James.

The South Gully, cleaned three weeks ago, had reverted to its previous state, he said, because of improper disposal of garbage there.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges we face … we are virtually back at zero,” said the works agency spokesman.

A similar situation exists in the community of Granville, where constant flooding has left a legacy of potholes and declining drivable road surface.

“The drain which runs right by the school was cleaned, but it’s like the people keep throwing garbage, and whenever rain falls it washes over into the school,” said Odette Morris, a secretary at the Granville All-Age School.

A week ago, as the rains fell, a grade two teacher was forced to use a broom to sweep water out of the classroom, Morris said.

In Montego Bay, however, areas like Union Street, St James Street, and William Street in the heart of the city, were spared a repeat of the devastation experienced in last year’s heavy rains, with the pre-emptive clearing of the North Gully, according to Shaw and Ian Reid, the secretary/manager of the St James Parish Council.

The council is not responsible for the main drains but decided to take on the North Gully, because of its effect and visibility.

“It was no coincidence,” said Reid.

Last October, the drain overflowed twice in 10 days, swamping the city with mounds of mud and illegally dumped plastic waste.

“You could say that we took sleep and marked death,” said Reid, who was full of praise for Mobile Welding and Engineering Works, which it contracted for the job.

“In the past, contractors have taken two to three weeks to do the job,” said the council manager.

“The difference between him and the others is that this guy had the equipment. For the first time in 10 years, the mouth of the drain was cleaned. When he cleaned it, the water there was blue.”

In neighbouring Trelawny, residents of Zion, who were flushed out of their homes after floodings associated with the passages of hurricanes Ivan, Dennis and Emily, still have their beds on concrete blocks in fearful anticipation of more problems this season.

“They have dug a drain behind the community that is supposed to draw off the water, but the drain is already full of water,” said Roy Lawrence.

“It acts as a catchment, so whenever we have heavy rains, I anticipate that the water will just overflow into the community again.”

He also noted that some of the residents who attempted to move from the flood-prone Zion/Carib Road area were unsuccessful in their bid to acquire land nearby.

Deputy mayor of Falmouth and acting chairman of the Trelawny Disaster Committee, Fitz Christie (JLP-Ulster Spring), said the parish is without funding to clean drains, but anticipates a combined $6-million allocation from central government for June and July.

“We have done some cleaning in most of the division, but a lot is left to be done because funding is not yet in place,” said Christie.

The disaster committee had also submitted a list of needed emergency supplies, he said, but got nothing.

“So, if we have a disaster now, we don’t have a thing,” said the deputy mayor.

“Basically, we are in bad shape.”

Despite the financial constraints, councillor Garth Wilkinson (PNP-Falmouth), said most of the drains in his division were clean because of an ongoing drain cleaning programme he initiated.

“The primary drain, which is the Drag Line, is partially clean.

We are trying to complete it within the next two weeks. I have the biggest challenge because of the number of drains, and I do not get funding, but I have been able to maintain my drains to standard so that they can avoid flooding,” said Wilkinson.

“I even used Labour Day to clean some of the drains,” he said.

Shaw told the Sunday Observer that Trelawny had posed a bit of a problem finding a contractor to carry out the work, but said the issue was near resolution.

Sunday Observer Reporter Horace Hines contributed to this report