MANDEVILLE, Manchester – Disaster relief personnel in the south coast parishes of Manchester and St Elizabeth yesterday reported “inundated” and blocked roads but no “major flooding event” as heavy rains continued to lash sections of the island.

In Manchester, the parish’s disaster co-ordinator, Claudia Coley, said the blockage of Bonitto Crescent in Mandeville for several hours on Thursday night led to firemen having to be called in to rescue “a number of persons” who were trapped in a church.

Attempts have since been made to clear blocked drains which apparently led to the flooding of the crescent, Coley said. A number of roads in and around Mandeville were also temporarily blocked by the flood waters.

According to Coley, there was word from south Manchester of inundation of the Cocoa Walk main road as well as the Downs to Alligator Pond main road in the vicinity of the New Forest gas station.

In St Elizabeth rising waters from the Black River blocked the Middle Quarters main road forcing motorists to use the alternate route through Craigy.

Disaster co-ordinator for St Elizabeth, Yvonne Morrison, said roads through Dalintobar and Fustic Grove in Brompton had also been rendered impassable.

Member of parliament for South West St Elizabeth, Dr Christopher Tufton, also reported severe damage to the Round Hill and Greenfield roads. He said he had also made contact with the National Works Agency (NWA), following reports that water was backing up from the sea into the incomplete drainage canal at Treasure Beach.

One resident in Treasure Beach told the Observer by telephone yesterday that some roads had been flooded in the community, including a few with no history of such occurrences.

Dozens of families in the Great Bay area of Treasure Beach had to flee their homes two years ago after rains from Hurricane Wilma transformed the waters of the Great Pond and satellite ponds into a massive lake. That incident triggered the then government’s decision to build the drainage canal.

Up to yesterday afternoon, there were no reports of flooding in New River, close to Santa Cruz – an area with a long history of being overtaken by waters from the Black River during and after heavy rain. But residents were reportedly expressing some concern at rising water levels.