‘I have warned them about it’
MAY PEN, Clarendon — Councillor Uphell Purcell (People’s National Party, York Town Division) is once again warning of an imminent disaster if drainage issues plaguing the May Pen to Williamsfield leg of Highway 2000 are not addressed.”
“I made mention in many, many meetings that I am not in support of the amount of outlets that the highway carries and the distance of the major drainages. There are four gullies — the Jacks Gully, Comfort Gully, Decoy Pond, and the St Jago drains — that take the water from the north to the south. The highway is built from east to west, so you can just imagine the amount of semi outlets that have been blocked,” he said.
“What we saw with the last major rains is that they have been backed up and the water built up in the communities. On Duke Street there is a section of the highway where the roadway was blocked off and because of that the water is popping up in the community. I am advising that we are still asking NROCC [National Road Operating and Constructing Company Limited] to facilitate the opening of all those drains about two miles down so that the water under the highway can have a wider space to allow the water to run out faster. If we don’t do that, we are going to have serious problems,” Purcell warned during Thursday’s sitting of the Clarendon Municipal Corporation.
He said that since the highway was built a section of the Four Paths to Toll Gate main road has been flooded; something that has never happened before.
“I want to also state that the St Jago leg to come onto the highway will not be accessible when we have rains. I have warned them about it. I have told them about it and I can’t do any more. It is not going to be accessible when we have rain so nobody won’t be able to come off or go on and will have to use the May Pen leg. I can tell you, that will not be accessible but nobody wants to listen to me. If they do not open the channel to let out the Flemmings Gully, we are going to have major flooding when we have heavy rains,” the councillor said.
He appealed to the engineers to revisit the project and find the best way to open the drains.
In response the corporation’s chairman, Mayor Winston Maragh, promised to arrange a tour. “
“We will look personally at the locations you have pointed out and then have the NROCC people come to see if the corrections can be made and where,” he said.”
