MONTEGO BAY, St James — As if the mounds of mud Hurricane Melissa deposited in sections of the city wasn’t enough, Montego Bay is now grappling with a fresh nuisance: dust.

The western city’s Mayor Richard Vernon raised the issue during a press conference on Thursday,

“The hurricane had some level of flooding — not just in the Catherine Hall area but across other sections of the municipality — and that has left a lot of debris, we call it silt, rather. The drying of the silt has now turned into dust, and as a result we have a high level of dust nuisance right across the municipality,” he said.

“The dust was like a cloud, thick smoke going through the space, and that is unhealthy for everybody involved, so we have to ensure that we protect ourselves,” Vernon cautioned.

He suggested the wearing of masks and outlined measures the local authority will take to address the situation.

“We will be doing some wetting of the ground to ensure that we keep down the dust — especially in the Catherine Hall area,” Vernon disclosed.

“Definitely we will be doing some spraying and washing to remove much of the mud from the surface that has produced the dust so that we don’t have that high level of nuisance within the space,” he added.

Vernon also gave an update on progress made in cleaning up the hard-hit communities of Catherine Hall and Westgreen.

“We have removed 1,636 truckloads of debris from the community to our temporary holding area right in Catherine Hall — which we will have to, of course, relocate from there to the landfill when we have completed this project,” he said.

“The project is unfolding in a way that is going to lead us to a place of sanitisation, and that is what we are commencing today [Thursday]. Today we will find the water trucks moving around in the community doing extensive washing,” he added.

He stressed that every effort is being made to minimise health risks.

“They are using bleach and sanitisers to reduce the probability of any contraction from germs, or any virus, or anything that can cause disease. We are actively moving in that space as we move to close off that project this weekend,” Vernon declared.

He attempted to explain the scale of the task.

“The community is over 3,500 people with some 1,300 households. Removing waste from the household, bulky waste from the space, mud from the space, it has been a tumultuous task,” said the mayor.

He also used the opportunity to tackle head-on the speculation about what caused the extensive flooding. The Montego River, Barnette River and Pye River all overflowed their banks, dumping several feet of mud and debris-filled water on homes and businesses in the densely populated area.

“Not much has been said about China Harbour [Engineering Company (CHEC)] more than them being blamed for the flooding — which is a story that needs to be properly assessed. The National Works Agency (NWA), I’m certain, will do their assessment at the appropriate time and provide us with the necessary results of their investigation,” Vernon said.

CHEC is working on a section of the Montego Bay Perimeter Road Project in that area.

Instead of ascribing blame without proof of wrongdoing, the mayor pointed to the work CHEC has done in helping with recovery efforts within the parish.

“China Harbour has been very helpful with the restoration process. They have been in the Catherine Hall community clearing roadways… They have been in there with the team doing the restoration, and in some cases they have been deployed in some sections of Montego Bay — for example, Charles Gordon Market and Norwood — to clear dump sites,” he said.

“They must be recognised for the work that they have been doing within the space,” emphasised Vernon.

He also thanked other stakeholders who have contributed to the ongoing effort to clean up the area.

“To our many partners who have come on board from Barnett Estate, Rainforest, providing heavy equipment to help with the clearing, that has been instrumental in bringing Catherine Hall to where it is now,” he said.

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

Mud dumped into the stadium at Catherine Hall, Montego Bay, by Hurricane Melissa. (Photo: Karl Mclarty)