At least 11 premises in Old Harbour Bay, St Catherine, were flooded on Sunday after a storm surge associated with the approaching Category Four Hurricane Melissa brought knee-high water into sections of the community, prompting the activation of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Early Warning System.

Parish disaster coordinator for St Catherine Yasheka Jathan-Thompson said, at 4:10 pm Sunday, approximately 86 people had already evacuated and were at Old Harbour High School shelter.

However, some residents were still reluctant to leave their homes, despite the early warning evacuation message triggered at approximately 2:43 pm.

“In the Dagger Bay section of Old Harbour Bay there are some areas where it’s actually at knee-high, and then where the bathing beach is it’s actually inland to your ankle, and that’s normally a higher area, so it’s getting there. It’s getting [to] where we don’t want it to get, but as a disaster committee we just have to ensure that we do our part to ensure that persons are safe and we have the necessary measures in place,” Jathan-Thompson told the Jamaica Observer.

She stated that the disaster team started evacuating residents at 5:00 pm on Saturday using buses provided by the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) with the help of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

Jathan-Thompson said at that time, the situation was not yet dire, but the team saw it fit because Old Harbour Bay is a flood-prone area.

“We tried to utilise the JUTC buses and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) along with JCF to kind of motivate the persons. We also have an active community emergency response team and they are on the ground, but you still have persons that will basically tell you they will ride out the storm, they will tell you that nothing is going to happen to them, but it is still our responsibility to ensure that these persons get the necessary equipment and we put the necessary measures in place so that they can evacuate safely,” said the disaster coordinator.

She said that the team will continue to make attempts to bring individuals to safety as long as the weather permits.

“We are doing things based on what’s happening on the ground. As a committee and the parish emergency operation centre we’ll do our briefing and then we’ll decide what’s next while we have time.

“At the end of the day we can’t send out buses on roadways or send out officers on roadways that are flooded because we don’t want to actually cause another disaster, so we [will] monitor the local situation to ensure that it is safe to do so. But we’ve been trying for a week to get these persons to evacuate,” Jathan-Thompson told the Observer.

She urged residents to heed the warning of the principal director at the Meteorological Service Evan Thompson and prepare as best as possible.

“Evan Thompson has never been wrong. Always listen to the bulletin and the local news. If you think that you’re going to go to a family member, if you’re going to stay at an emergency shelter, always ensure you top up on your medication, walk with your first-aid kit, and walk with your medication. Just try and be safe.

“We need to move away from saying that a disaster will not happen, a hurricane will not come, and a storm will not come, because we can never be too prepared. It’s better for us to be prepared than for us to be sorry in the end,” said the parish disaster coordinator.

— Tamoy Ashman

Rising water associated with the approaching Category Four Hurricane Melissa is seen in a section of Old Harbour Bay, St Catherine, on Sunday.

An already flooded yard in Old Harbour Bay, St Catherine, on Sunday as Hurricane Melissa nears the island.