WATCH: Seven stranded by MoBay flood waters rescued
ST JAMES, Jamaica — Seven people left stranded by flood waters near Porto Bello in St James on Thursday were rescued shortly before 9:00 pm. About 30 minutes after a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) helicopter arrived, three of the seven were airlifted to safety. The others soon followed. Five of the seven are said to be college students.
Rose Mount resident Anginell Powell was full of praise for the team that rescued her son, a UTECH student, and her daughter.
“They did a good job. Through God’s grace and mercy my kids are safe tonight so I must say thanks… to everyone who took the time out to perform the rescue,” she said. “It’s not easy standing here and watching and waiting cause it give me a nervous feeling. But now that I know they are on safe ground I am really grateful for that and the effort that everyone put in to rescue them.”
Her children, she said, had told her they were going to the river with friends “just to have some fun”.
She theorised that, as children sometimes do, they did not pay enough attention after the rain began.
For now, she’s just happy she can “go home and hug them”.
Firefighters and police personnel first responded to the scene shortly before 4:30 pm on Thursday. They had received reports that a group of people were marooned on a patch of land. The Barnett River had overflowed its banks as a result of heavy rain that pummelled the city throughout much of the day.
The water receded as night fell, but members of the rescue team were still unable to get to the group. Shortly before 8:00 pm the sounds of a helicopter could be heard in the skies above Montego Bay as the JDF arrived to provide support.
The first attempt, by a soldier who rappelled from the helicopter, failed as members of the group apparently tried to avoid the heavy winds generated by the aircraft. The soldier went back into the helicopter but by then a firefighter had made his way to the seven individuals.
About 8:36 pm, another attempt saw three of the seven airlifted to safety by the JDF with support from firefighters. All seven were eventually whisked to safety.
After the rescue, Deputy Superintendent of Police in charge of operations in St James, Eron Samuels urged individuals to be cautious when around bodies of water.
”We know that persons are coming out of COVID with the lockdown, they want to go and have fun, but they have to be cautious in terms of what is happening, be aware of the surroundings,” he said.
“St James has been prone in recent times, when there’s a lot of rain, for the river to overflow its banks… So we are asking persons in the parish of St James just to please be cautious. We know you want to have fun but be very careful when you are going out anywhere in the rivers. Or… when you see water [when] driving, avoid it,” Samuels added.
Thursday’s incident comes in the wake of last month’s tragic drowning of 12-year-old Jennel Walters after a car in which she and three other relatives were travelling was pushed by flood waters into the Barnett River. Her aunt Shannon and grandfather Berris were rescued. Her grandmother Beryl Walters has still not been found.
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