The preliminary estimate of the damage inflicted on Jamaica’s road network by Hurricane Melissa has been put at a conservative $35 billion.

This was revealed Thursday by Minister of Works Robert Morgan, at a Hurricane Melissa recovery media briefing held at the Office of the Prime Minister. He said $5 billion has been allocated to carry out emergency repairs.

“Cabinet has decided that preliminarily we will be spending $5 billion through the National Works Agency (NWA),” Morgan said. A breakdown of the $5 billion shows that $2 billion will go towards the reopening of roads and drain cleaning; $1 billion to facilitate emergency road repairs; and $2 billion for repairs to gullies, particularly Sandy Gully and North and South gullies and their tributaries, as well as repairs to minor culverts, gullies, and fords across the island.

“While we are going to be spending $5 billion, the cost preliminarily that we have seen in terms of damage to our road infrastructure is about $35 billion, but we have not yet completed our assessments so we expect that that figure will increase over time,” Morgan noted.

The works minister also shared that the preliminary assessment of the damage shows that major highways and key bridges held up well, remaining largely intact.

“Our pre-storm drain and gully cleaning reduced flooding in some urban areas and we were able to rapidly open critical corridors with the coordination from local contractors and our local teams as well as other agencies such as ODPEM [Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management] and the Jamaica Defence Force,” Morgan said.

However, he said the NWA also identified weaknesses which showed that secondary and rural roads were severely eroded or washed out.

“We need to start looking at, as a part of our building for resilience, adequate slope protection,” he stated, highlighting that many landslides were caused by inadequate slope protection in the hilly interior.

“And we have to look at our drainage systems …even though you cannot plan for a Category 5 [hurricane], …over time it has been determined that the drains are unable to handle the runoff that comes with certain weather events which are becoming more frequent”.

“And we also have a challenge where power and communications infrastructure along roadways were impacted,” he added.

Morgan told the press briefing that roads and bridges will have to be upgraded to climate-resilient standards, the drainage network will have to be expanded, and slope protection projects implemented. Additionally, he said public-private partnership will have to be strengthened for rapid response.

Meanwhile, Morgan said 30 of 396 roads that were impacted by the hurricane remain blocked. He said 85 per cent of roads were cleared within five days to allow movement of traffic. The 30 roads which remain blocked represent a reduction from 60 a week ago.

“The issue with the disaster is that sometimes you clear a road and it becomes blocked again as was the case in sections of St James over the last 48 hours,” Morgan said, while pointing out that roads, including the Adelphi main road, were cleared but became blocked again following heavy rains.

Presently, 122 roads are open to two-lane traffic and 248 can accommodate single-lane traffic.

He also said that just two roads remain blocked in Westmoreland, despite it being the parish where Melissa made landfall on the afternoon of October 28, and one of the most devastated. By contrast, he said there are many blocked roads in St Elizabeth which was also severely hit. He also said the NWA continues to face challenges with unstable soil, breakaways, and fallen trees, especially in the hilly interior.

A man jumps over a road gutted by flood waters from Hurricane Melissa in Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth, on Wednesday, October 29. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)