KINGSTON, Jamaica — As Tropical Storm-turned-Hurricane Sandy ploughs across Jamaica’s eastern parishes, there have been numerous reports of damage to crops, roads, bridges and houses especially in St Mary and Portland.

In the Corporate Area (Kingston and St Andrew) where Sandy has just approached, heavy flooding has been reported in the Bull Bay-Caribbean Terrace-Harbour View areas as well as section of rural St Andrew, as torrential rains continue to drench the area.

It is understood that the Harbour View-Bull Bay Road is blocked and residents in surrounding communities are being evacuated as the flooding increases.

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) says that more people are turning up at its emergency shelters and the figure is now over 400.

ODPEM’s Director General, Ronald Jackson, said that people are pouring into the centres as the flooding becomes more eminent.

“Our people tend to respond when the situations starts getting adverse,” Jackson said this afternoon. He urged people in communities threatened with flooding, or homes, which are endangered, to report to the centres as quickly as possible.

Persons in need of assistance can call the agency at 906-9674-5. There has been no report of any fatality so far.