NOT even the dead was spared by Gustav – the deadly Tropical Storm that lashed Jamaica two weeks ago.

On Tuesday, Desmond McKenzie, mayor of the country’s capital city – Kingston – asked his superintendent of cemeteries to investigate reports that bodies were washed out of graves during the heavy flooding from storm.

The mayor told the monthly meeting of the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC} that the KSAC had received reports of bodies being washed out of graves at the August Town cemetery, and that at least two family plots compromised at Cane River. The reports, said McKenzie, raised public health issues and were of grave concern.

“It is not known what these persons may have died from. So you don’t want to expose citizens to potential health risks,” McKenzie told the council.

The mayor said Jamaica Labour Party councillor Francisco Bonner (Kintyre Division) and People’s National Party councillor Gareth Walker (Brandon Hill Division) had also expressed concern about graves that had been compromised during the heavy rains.

Meanwhile, McKenzie said that the cost of repairing the retaining walls and gully inverts damaged throughout the parishes of Kingston and St Andrew during the passage of the storm has been estimated at $1.5 billion.

The mayor said a number of roads in rural St Andrew communities were made impassable after the storm, but said councillors in the affected areas were allocated “tractor hours” to deal with the problems.