THE Kingston and St Andrew Corporation says it will be asking the prime minister to release $10.5 million for the emergency cleaning of drains and gullies in the city, sections of which have been affected by flooding since heavy rains started on Sunday.

The council’s chairman and mayor of the city, Desmond McKenzie, said a number of the gullies and drains in need of cleaning have been blocked with fallen tree trunks and limbs, silt and other solid waste.

He said those in need of emergency cleaning are the Industrial Terrace Gully and the Spanish Town Road drain, Lady Musgrave Road drain, the St Joseph Teachers College gully, the St Hugh’s High School gully, the Deanery Road drain, the Boucher Gully in Maxfield Park and the Boucher Gully in Payne Lands, the Gem Road Gully in Trench Town, the Copacabana drain, the Nutmeg Gully in Barbican, Alpha Primary School drain in Alman Town, Barnes Gully in Rae Town and the drain near the Seaview Primary School in Seaview Gardens.

McKenzie told yesterday’s council meeting that the rains had caused flooding in the Corporate Area on a scale never seen before.

“Flooding is taking place in areas that were never prone to flooding before. We have been getting calls from some 40 areas where flooding occurred over a 36-hour period. There is a total erosion of the soil and the rain has saturated these areas,” McKenzie said.

He said that in addition to garbage bags, sand and stones were also being found in the gullies, and urged citizens not to throw garbage in the gullies.

“I am appealing to citizens to desist from dumping in the gullies,” he said.

The mayor also called attention to Marcus Garvey Drive where he said flooding was a major problem during heavy rainfall. He said the National Works Agency (NWA) had tried to fix the problem around the Tinson Pen area of Marcus Garvey Drive, but that nothing was done to alleviate flooding in other areas of the road.

According to McKenzie, 90 per cent of the gullies in the Corporate Area were in need of repairs as the drainage system has not been upgraded since the Sandy Gully was built in the 1960s.

“There is more rainfall now than before and the drains are inadequate. Every aspect of the gullies and drains are in need of attention. The inverts, flooring, retaining walls and rails of many of them are missing,” he said.

In the meantime, the mayor told the council that he would be instructing acting town clerk, Lincoln Evans, to write to the general secretaries of both the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the People’s National Party (PNP), requesting them to immediately remove billboards put up for the recent general election campaign. He said that the letter would also indicate a timeframe for the removal of the billboards.

He said that the law allowed for the parties to do free advertising via the billboards from nomination day up to the time of the election, but it was now time to remove them.

“If they fail to comply we will do what is necessary,” said McKenzie.