A landslide destroyed at least one house in Bath, St Thomas while several other sections of the parish were flooded yesterday during heavy rains which began affecting the island since early morning.

It was not immediately clear how many people were in the house at the time of its collapse, but the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) reported that the occupants of the house have since been rescued and taken to hospital, where they received treatment.

Director General of the ODPEM Ronald Jackson told the Observer that his office had received reports that a number of residents in St Thomas had been displaced due to flooding.

“We know that some persons were displaced but because they have not reported to any of our shelter locations, we do not know the number,” he said.

Jackson also told the Observer that ODPEM officials had not seen the need to reopen any shelters or deploy shelter managers, but would be meeting up to late yesterday evening to assess the damage caused by the persistent rains.

The National Works Agency (NWA) also reported yesterday that at least eight roads in the parish of St Thomas had been rendered impassable due to landslides, fallen trees and flooding.

The roads included:

. Hordley to Haining;

. Port Morant to Pleasant Hill, at Hordley Crossing;

. Bath to Barretts’ Gap;

. Morant Bay to Wilmington; and Whalersfield to Cedar Grove.

Stephen Shaw, the NWA’s communications manager, said several roadways in the parish were yesterday reduced to single-lane traffic because of the heavy rains. These, he said, included the road from Morant Bay to Port Morant, Morant Crossing to White Hall, and Potossi to Morant River Bridge.

Flooding was also reported in the Cottage Pen, Castle Gully, York, Seaforth, Dumfries and Browns Gully sections of St Thomas.

Trucks exceeding 10 tons were, in the meantime, asked not to use the Easington Bridge, also in St Thomas.

“.Truck drivers are urged to desist from using this route out of fear that the bridge may collapse and eliminate the only viable alternative to the Yallahs Ford,” the press release from ODPEM said.

The NWA also reported that the persistent rainfall had caused a section of the roadway from Papine to Bull Bay, in the vicinity of Hall’s Delight, to break away. Shaw said residents in Hall’s Delight and surrounding areas were forced to travel the much longer route to Nine Miles and Harbour View in order to get to Papine in Kingston.

Meanwhile, member of parliament for Western St Thomas, James Robertson, yesterday pledged to meet with the minister of transport and works to try to effect speedy repairs to the roadways in his constituency, which were rendered impassable by the rains.

“Three cars were just recently washed away by floodwaters in Seaforth, and most major roadways throughout Western St Thomas are now impassable,” Robertson said in a press release yesterday. He said he had received reports that many children and adults were unable to attend school and work respectively, due to the rains.

It was also reported that water levels were rising in New River, St Elizabeth. Water levels were also said to be rising in the Chigwell, Old Pen and Cold Spring areas of Hanover.

In the meantime, Jamaicans in the southern section of the island were told last night to brace for more heavy rains and thunderstorms.

According to the National Meteorological Service, the island has been experiencing the effects of a mid-to-upper level trough in the island’s vicinity, which is expected to produce moderate to heavy thunderstorms and showers as the trough moves towards the west across the island. However, the Met Service said eastern parishes should experience a significant reduction in rainfall today.