A collective sigh of relief must have escaped the lips of people living in Dover, St Mary, when they were spared the full impact of Hurricane Melissa last October.

That relief, though, turned to discomfort as heavy rain from an unstable weather system affecting Jamaica into the new year has subjected the residents to heavy flooding which left roads impassable, and homes filled with murky brown water.

Latoya Hall told the Jamaica Observer last Wednesday that she was inside her house when her uncle frantically called her to come outside. When she opened her door she said her yard was flooded with water covering her verandah and approaching the inside of her house.

“Water started to come in and we had to start packing up the things on blocks. We took up the [washing] machine and put it on blocks because the machine was [outside]. We just had to sweep water, bail out water for it to come out [the house],” she said, adding that, luckily, nothing was destroyed because they acted quickly.

According to Hall, this was the first time she experienced such high volumes of water.

“Throughout the hurricane we never had this level of water. Since the little rain the other day we see all of this come up. It was worse than Melissa. Supposed Melissa did come? Because Melissa did not affect us here; so, suppose Melissa really did come the right way?” she questioned, while speculating that the damage from the Category 5 hurricane would have been substantial.

On Wednesday, days after the flooding, pools of water still lingered in the yards of many residents. While some drains along the main road in Dover showed signs of recent cleaning, debris was still evident in others.

According to residents, clogged drains were the main reason for the flooding.

Laura Samuels, who lives in a house just below the road, pointed to drains in front of her property and along the main road that typically carry water away from her house. She shared that when it rains, a riverbed located on a hill on the other side of the road would channel flood water through the drains.

However, with the drains clogged and the soil saturated from the consistent rainfall, she said the flood mechanisms were no match for the large volumes of water.

“From this [gully] was built, it is the first it come over,” Samuels said, using the Jamaican term for when water rises above the banks of a river or gully.

“You couldn’t see anything at all… The gully couldn’t carry all the water… If you look at the house side, you can see the debris because it couldn’t carry it,” Samuels told the Observer.

“It came over and flowed over. It dug up the land [by the side door] and go into the house,” she said.

Samuels pointed to tree branches and sticks she and her neighbour pulled from the drains that were now in a pile in front of her house, stating they were more than likely the cause for the build-up of water.

Like Hall, she said the flood was worse than what the community experienced during the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

She also used the opportunity to appeal for regular cleaning and monitoring of drains.

“I think they need to address it from the top; that is, from up at the bridge [over the river] come down, because if they don’t address it from up there, things come down, it doesn’t make any sense,” she reasoned.

One resident agreed with Samuels’ suggestion, adding that she could not recall the last time the debris and greenery under the bridge were removed to ease the flow of water from the river.

“They don’t clean the bridge because, you see if under the bridge did clean, the water wouldn’t come over, but under the bridge don’t clean, so you find that the culverts are full of bush and grass,” said the resident who requested anonymity.

She added that the force of the water broke pipes in the area, and now residents are without domestic water supply.

Donnaree McIntosh shared that her house and at least five of her neighbours’ homes were flooded. She said that the Friday after the rain subsided she cleaned her house and went to check on her bar. When she opened the door to the establishment, she said brown, murky water and water marks along the boarded structure greeted her. She pointed to the back of a deep freezer in the bar, which showed the water was just above ankle height.

“It is a whole heap of rainfall, and remember that Melissa bring a whole heap of water, so the land have a whole heap of water in it, and the place did soft and saturated. Any more rain come it a go worse,” she told the Observer and called for better drain maintenance.

However another resident, Latoya Clemetson, offered a different suggestion. She advocated raising the height of drains at the base of hillsides, particularly in front of homes situated below roads.

“It [the drain channel] is too low. It needs to maybe level with the [roadside] so when the water comes down and there is any log or so, the water just comes over,” said Clemetson.

These tree branches and sticks lay here after being removed from the gully near Laura Samuels’ house by residents after the flooding.

Dover, St Mary, resident Latoya Hall points to the level to which flood waters rose during recent rainfall.

Laura Samuels telling the Jamaica Observer that she had never before experienced flooding like that which affected the community of Dover in St Mary a few weeks ago.

This drain along the main road in Dover, St Mary, is on Wednesday, January 7 still partially blocked by debris from heavy flooding.

A drain along the main road in Dover, St Mary, is filled with greenery and silt on Wednesday January 7, 2026.