MONTEGO BAY, St James — An almost decade-long problem of flooding in two sections of Meadows of Irwin, a gated community on the outskirts of Montego Bay, is being touted as the reason the development has not been officially handed over to the St James Municipal Corporation, a move that would make the local authority responsible for maintaining vital infrastructure.

With even short bursts of heavy rainfall, flooding near the police post means residents entering and leaving one half of the community have to detour or take their chances. On the other side, three houses on Rosewood Crescent are far too familiar with water gushing onto their property.

“I believe, in a nutshell, this is the reason why the municipal corporation is not taking it. These are two major projects; this is over $5 million, easily, to get it corrected because they would have to tear up the entire area to do it,” resident of Meadows of Irwin Citizens Association (MOICA) Mark Hamilton told the Jamaica Observer’s Real Estate on the Rock.

As outlined by then Minister of Water and Housing Dr Horace Chang on March 14, 2008 when he officially launched the Meadows of Irwin Housing Development, the project was supposed to provide 800 housing solutions on approximately 147 acres of land. He touted it as part of the Government’s wider approach to curbing squatting by providing affordable housing. Can-Cara Development Limited was named as the developer then. West Indies Home Contractors Ltd (WIHCON) eventually built the two and three-bedroom units and there are now about 600 homes in the four-phased development.

WIHCON has not responded to several e-mailed requests, from the Sunday Observer, for comment on the flooding issue. According to MOICA’s Hamilton, since he became president this March they have been unresponsive to the association’s requests to have the problem addressed.

Rosewood Crescent, one of two problem areas inside Meadows of Irwin which flood each time there is heavy rainfall. Residents say the problem has persisted for almost a decade. 

“I’ve sent e-mails, no one responds, no one wants to take the responsibility,” he said.

“It is becoming a challenge now, it’s hurricane season and I’m worried. It just takes 15-20 minutes of rain and around by Rosewood [Crescent] floods,” he explained.

Hamilton, who was VP of MOICA for two years and has knowledge of the issue, said the problem is non-functioning manholes in the two areas of the development where flooding occurs.

“As soon as the water floods the street and they’re full, it overflows back into the street, it doesn’t run off to anywhere,” he said of Rosewood Crescent.

An aerial view of a section of Meadows of Irwin in St James.

“The sad part about it is there is a culvert area that is located on the street but it is set in a way that the street is uphill to get to there. So it can’t even run off the road to get to the gully area,” he added.

He said efforts to have WIHCON address the issue pre-date his presidency, dating back to 2017.

“They’ve seen the situation, they know of the situation, every year… a project manager comes and analyses and confirms the same thing. Year after year after year, nothing is fixed,” said a frustrated Hamilton.

He is equally concerned about WIHCON’s failure to address the problem of flooding along the development’s main road, in the vicinity of the police post. Hamilton said WIHCON’s analysis showed that the problem is similar to that at Rosewood Crescent: The water has to climb a slope to get to the drain, so it settles, resulting in flooding.

“They confirmed this, there was a survey that they did where they sent something inside the drain and figured out that the levelling of it was wrong; that was reported,” he added.

The four-way, flood-prone intersection near the community’s police post.

Developers have a responsibility to fix issues with projects before local authorities approve developments but in many cases they are handed over to citizen’s associations before they are approved. For years, residents of Montego West Village, built by Gore Homes, have raised similar concerns.

Once a development is approved by a municipal corporation, the local authority assumes responsibility for roads, culverts, drains, etc. The corporation will then be able to seek additional Parochial Revenue Funds to maintain those roads and amenities.

The Sunday Observer was unable to get a substantive response from Montego Bay Mayor Richard Vernon on whether the issues raised by MOICA are impacting the handover of the development to the St James Municipal Corporation. Contacted while on a business trip overseas, he said the local authority would have to look into the issue before providing an update.

That is little comfort to Eliece Gordon who is filled with dread as soon as there is more than a light drizzle.

The entry to Meadows of Irwin, on the outskirts of Montego Bay .

“When it’s raining and the water is rising, I’m here worried as ever,” she told the Sunday Observer.

Gordon has lived on Rosewood Crescent since 2018 and has lost count of the numerous times the road in front of her home was inundated during a downpour.

“Once it rains heavily my street gets flooded. My house, as well as my neighbour’s house gets it the worst,” she said, adding that one of her neighbours had two cars damaged.

Gordon was trapped inside her house during Hurricane Melissa last October.

“I sat on the top of my kitchen counter, made peace with myself just in case the water rose higher, cause I would have been dead. My neighbour had to help me to get out through my window,” she lamented.

She was left with damaged belongings that she has since replaced; now she is worried she may lose them again.

“Once it rains, my heart is heavy because I don’t know what to expect,” she said.

This wasn’t what Gordon expected when she purchased her house. It was supposed to be the culmination of years of hard work.

“My home was supposed to be my safe haven and not a place of danger or threat to my life,” she said.