HANOVER, Jamaica — The town of Lucea in Hanover was flooded for more than an hour Thursday, leaving motorists and pedestrians stranded. The waters stretched from the problematic Lucea West River (Riley River) to the Texaco Gas Station in the town.

It is not clear if bamboo washed down along the Harvey River is the cause of the flooding. Last Tuesday, bamboo blocked the entrance of the Lucea West Bridge, which resulted in flooding of the town. A day later, State Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Homer Davis, announced that the Government has authorised $3 million to undertake emergency work aimed at addressing the issue.

The work, which started last week, is being carried out by the Hanover Municipal Corporation in collaboration with the National Works Agency. The scope of work includes the cleaning of drains, removal of bamboo at the Riley River and the Lucea East River (Kew) bridges, along with the removal of bamboo from both rivers.

The initiative will see the use of heavy equipment, dump trucks and manual labour.

Thursday afternoon’s flooding resulted in entrepreneurially-minded individuals charging between $500 and $700 to ferry pedestrians across the water using fishing boats. Among those stranded were two visitors from Vancouver, Canada, who appeared to be enjoying themselves in the muddy water.

Motorist George McKella told OBSERVER ONLINE that he was stranded for 45 minutes.

“Fi mi car jam inna wata too. Suh mi know dat mi will haffi guh mechanic,” he said.

There were also reports of traffic being impacted by flooding on the Haddington main road as well as the Cousins Cove section of the Northern Coastal Highway.