MAY PEN, Clarendon — Councillors in Clarendon are calling for early warning systems to be installed in several flood-prone areas of the parish, which they say will save lives and protect property when flooding occurs.

The call has taken on more urgency as this year’s rainy season is nearing its peak.

Citing Wednesday’s flooding in May Pen Woods, Councillor Scean Barnswell (Hayes Division, People’s National Party) said motorists need to be warned of impending danger whenever there are heavy rains.

“We lost a teacher many years ago in that area and we need to decide what to do to advise and warn unsuspecting motorists who are not from the area who use that corridor. Is it that we will put in an alarm system or a light to say, ‘Don’t enter’? We need to look at that corridor in a serious way,” he said.

He was speaking during Thursday’s monthly meeting of the Clarendon Municipal Corporation.

“The parish has been requesting money to improve the drainage system within the town and on the outskirts of May Pen for far too long. We were promised that a consultant would come in and do that study about three years ago and we have not heard anything about that, to date. We have had the minister visiting the parish looking at damage done and we have seen nothing coming out of that, Mr Chairman. I think the time has come for us now to say to the Ministry of Local Government that we have had enough in the parish and we need money to correct the situations we are currently facing,” demanded Barnswell.

Councillor Kenneth Davis (May Pen East Division, Jamaica Labour Party) blamed “bad management” of the work being done to repair the drains for the challenges being faced.

“My understanding was that it should have started from Guinep Tree all the way up to Frankfield, it was not to start in the middle and what is happening in [May Pen] Woods would have been long [addressed],” he said.

Weighing in on the issue, Councillor Joel Williams (Denbigh Division, Jamaica Labour Party) asked for funds to be provided to put in the necessary drains and culverts and to elevate the road so that when it rains traffic can move freely.

“We have been facing this problem for many years. It is said that the money should have been in the budget this financial year so I am asking you, Mr Chairman, to make enquiry about that and advise us at the next council meeting,” he urged.

Romaine Morris (Mocho Division, Jamaica Labour Party) also used the opportunity to request a flood gauge for flood-prone areas, such as Four Paths, where drivers sometimes underestimate the volume of the water in the area during heavy rain.