NEW MARKET, St Elizabeth — Residents of several communities in St Elizabeth, including here and sections of the upper Black River Morass near Santa Cruz, are on edge as ground water continues to rise, posing a threat of flooding.

The development comes a week after Category 5 Hurricane Melissa battered the south- and north-western sections of Jamaica with heavy rains and strong winds.

Even as the authorities have attempted to clear blocked roads across in the affected parishes, where residents have been marooned, access still remains difficult.

On Tuesday, a man who identified himself only as Tony from Clarendon and who was transporting relief supplies for his family, was forced to use an alternative route as water covered sections of the New Market main road near the town.

“The route we normally take is to Hopeton and then to Beeston Spring, but as it looks now it is an impossible task… I will have to find my way through. My family, they are okay, but they need food and medication, so getting it to them now is a challenge,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

His brother, Robert Palmer, said the rising water has brought back painful memories of the 1979 flood which claimed the life of his grandmother.

“I remember it was raining heavily and we learnt that our grandmother was washed out of the house. We found her about three miles from where she actually lived. Her grandson was trying to help her and she said go and leave her and that was the end of the story,” he said.

“… And to see all of this now, it is like a repeat,” he added.

Desmond Cameron, a resident of New Market, also recalled the devastating 1979 flood that led to the eventual development of Lewisville, a few miles from New Market.

“In 1979 some people drowned, so is a boat they had to take [to move around]. I remember when the Government built Lewisville in 1980,” he said.

He is worried about history repeating itself with the continued rise of the water.

“Any number can play, because we sat down in the bar and we only saw water rising, everything was full up,” he said.

A vast majority of the houses in New Market lost roofs and, in some cases, were destroyed during the passage of Hurricane Melissa on October 28, 2025.

“This one is the worst one I saw where the breeze blew in this storm; it was terrible. Everything is gone,” said Cameron.

Another resident, Filmore Smith, is hopeful that New Market won’t go under water now, unlike in 1979.

“The difference is that we had flooding in one night. Melissa is now a week old and we have water coming, so quite likely water is coming from the various locations now. I don’t think it will get as high as 1979,” he said.

“I remember that the entire area here was covered with water. The light poles were covered as well and so we had to take a boat from either direction from New Savanna to New Market. All of the area was condemned and all the Government buildings were relocated to Lewisville, including the police station, schools, post office, and clinics,” he said.

A similar situation is also affecting people living near Santa Cruz.

The upper Black River Morass affects areas on the northern side of Santa Cruz from Rocky Hill to communities along the town’s bypass including New River and Brighton.

On Tuesday morning Linval Newman was busy building a makeshift raft from bamboo, lumber, and downed tree branches to gain access to New River.

“We want to go and retrieve little clothes, a stove, and a cylinder so that we can have food to cook,” he told the Observer.

Newman said he vacated the flood-prone community one day after the passing of Hurricane Melissa.

“We never expected it to reach so far, but the water keeps rising. Eventually we have to just make up our minds [to move out],” he said, adding that the rapid rise of the water is frightening.

“It is the first time I am seeing it like this here now, because for this long time, when I was 14 years old, I left and went to Montego Bay for 30-odd years and then I came back here. I was born and grew up here. In MoBay I got nine children,” he said.

“Yesterday (Monday), the firefighters had food items on a boat going into the community and they had to turn back. They didn’t get to reach [far in the community]. The water reached your waist up to Monday,” he added.

Meanwhile, Winston Bailey, who operates Bailey’s Funeral Home, said he was forced to move 11 bodies from his morgue in New River last week.

“From we see the water coming up we have to exhume the place and [leave it], because the water comes inside the building, it is not a normal thing. From the hurricane blow we know that we did a go get the water, because it doesn’t have anywhere to go,” Bailey told the Observer.

He said he and his brother watched as the strong wind ripped off the roof of the funeral home last week.

“Everything flew off and we stood up watching it. All when the trees were going and the zinc was flying. I did watch Gilbert too, enuh,” he said of the 1988 hurricane that devastated the entire island.

Referencing the current situation, Bailey said: “The water might take up to three months to dry up.”

“Thank God we have life. Once we have life there is hope, because some people are worse than we… The whole a we could be dead and gone, if the eye, as they said, walked through Jamaica, you [would] have more dead people than you can take up. You see the little part where it walked and look how much people died,” he added.

Omar Samuels, a resident of Institution Drive in Santa Cruz, is also worried about the rising water.

“I am completely surrounded by water at my house. The last time it happened like this was about 2010, but it never came so heavy, it wasn’t all the way up. The houses at the back had more water than what you see now at the front. This time it is worse,” he said.

“In 2010 the water lasted about a month. Most people don’t have anywhere to go. They built their houses there. Some people evacuated and went to shelter, but others had to stay,” he added.

Milton Daley and his wife Vennett walk through rising water on the Santa Cruz bypass near New River on Tuesday..

Eleven bodies had to be relocated from this morgue at Bailey’s Funeral Home in New River, St Elizabeth, due to the rising water, the operator said.

Linval Newman (left) assists his neighbour to build a makeshift raft on Tuesday to travel on rising flood underground water in new Market.

Robert Palmer points to the water rising in New Market on Tuesday, saying it brought back painful memories of the 1979 flood which claimed the life of his grandmother.

Water rising in New Market, St Elizabeth on Tuesday.

Men carrying a makeshift raft in New River, St Elizabeth, on Tuesday.