MONTEGO BAY, St James — As heavy machinery and cleaning teams arrived at the Catherine Hall and Westgreen areas Tuesday, some residents breathed a sigh a relief.

Swollen rivers and storm surge associated with Hurricane Melissa pushed water into homes in the area, leaving behind mounds of mud when the water receded.

The municipal corporation and other agencies have embarked on a massive clean-up exercise, starting with those two communities.

While residents were happy to see the work started, some questioned the time it took for progress.

“I feel very bad. I’m so upset to know it’s a week and I can’t even come out of my house, it’s pure mess,” Catherine Hall resident Lorna Wright told the Jamaica Observer.

“I came out day before yesterday and I slide right there, almost break my foot in the mud, it is a disgrace,” she said.

Wright was in the process of discarding a number of her possessions that were destroyed by the flooding just outside her gateway that was still heavy with mud.

She said she was shocked to see that it took the authorities this long to start work.

“We are all human beings, and I think it is bad,” she said.

The St James Municipal Corporation, National Solid Waste Management Authority, Jamaica Fire Brigade, and others have deployed their resources to the area to begin cleaning up the space. This is expected to remove the bulky waste, clear the mud, and help citizens clean their homes of mud and debris.

For taxi operator Risizne Thorpe, he too feels that things could have been done much speedier to assist the residents in the area.

“It’s a start, but they should have been here long time, that is the first thing. I know that it’s not here so alone get damaged, so I don’t know still,” he said.

He said the residents were upset about the overall situation because they have lost so much, and then to live in mud for so long only made it worse.

“I lost everything. The only thing I saved are my children and my woman,” he said.

Edward Bennett said he was grateful that the space was finally being cleaned.

“It’s a good thing they are doing to help the people,” he said, indicating that he was slightly more fortunate, because he lives on an incline.

“The first floor flood out, I have tenants there and it flood right out,” he said. “Right now it’s difficult to go in the downstairs [area], you have to push and pull, but the dirt in there push you back.”

He shared that since the storm he has had to accommodate people from the community.

“Thirteen people I rescue because I have a three-floor house and I have to take them, even a lady in a wheelchair. I have to take them and carry them up to my place,” he said.

The Montego River, Barnett River, Pye River, and the sea all came together to flood the popular residential area where more than 1,000 houses are located.

Bennett said it was a weather event never experienced before.

“Never seen anything like this from 1983 since I live here,” he said.

Marlene Waite, another resident, said she had been worried there would be an outbreak of illness.

“Mosquitoes come out and start to bite and we don’t know what kind of germs and infections are in the mud,” she said.

“I had to send away my nine-year-old daughter because she can’t manage all of this.”

The clean-up will move into the town centre on Wednesday and expand further across the parish in the coming days.

Household refuse piled up to be disposed of, as clean-up activities get underway in Catherine Hall and Westgreen.

Municipal agency clean-up of Catherine Hall and Westgreen Wednesday.

Clean-up underway in Catherine Hall and Westgreen.