Residents of Ocho Rios and communities on the outskirts of the resort town look at the devastated Milford Road leading into the town yesterday. (Photo: Andre O'Connor)

It was a scene played out before, only this time it was the worst ever.

A frontal system that moved across the island Wednesday night dumped several inches of rain on St Ann's northern coastline, resulting in tons of mud being deposited in the resort town of Ocho Rios, bringing all business activities to a halt along the lower section of Main Street yesterday.

In surrounding communities - Pimento Walk, Parry Town, Harrison Town, Mansfield Flat, Snow Hill, Fern Gully, New Hope and White River - there were reports of severe flooding affecting residents.

St Ann Parish Disaster Co-ordinator Alvin Clarke, who was heading into an emergency meeting at around 3:00 pm, confirmed 20 cases of severe flooding being investigated by his office.

He said another 29 cases in Harrison Town had been confirmed but not yet investigated.

A workman clearing mud and water from Main Street in Ocho Rios.

There were also reports of six cases of flooding in Mansfield Flats and 14 in Snow Hill. Along Milford Road, a wall at a garage collapsed on three vehicles, causing significant damage.

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) also reported that a retaining wall collapsed in Mansfield Flats resulting in severe damage to a house.

"There have been no reports of injuries," Clarke confirmed.
A spokesman at the meteorological office at the Norman Manley International Airport told the Observer that the rain, which started Wednesday and lasted into yesterday, was caused by a frontal system that moved across the island, with an upper level system continuing to prolong the showers.
He said showers, light to moderate, would continue into and throughout today.

In Ocho Rios proper, the town was under tons of mud, for the third time in three years. Business persons said it was the worst case of mudslide they had ever experienced in the town.

"The amount of water we have seen, but we've never seen so much mud," said one business operator along Main Street.

All businesses along the lower section of Main Street, from Island Village up to Sunset Jamaica Grande hotel, were affected. Some shops at Taj Mahal, the in-bond shopping complex, remained open, but elsewhere all shops were closed as clean-up started.

All rooms on the ground floor of Pier View Inn were flooded, with water rising to as high as the windows.
All stores on the Ocean Village Shopping Centre ground floor were closed.

Supermarkets, fast food restaurants, offices, gas stations, stores, banks, and all other enterprises located at ground level were affected.

The mud on the road was as deep as 12 inches in some areas. One bus driver, on the Ocho Rios to Brown's Town route, disobeyed warnings from emergency personnel and ended up stuck in the mud in the middle of the road. It took him nearly 15 minutes before he managed to reverse the bus.

Traffic backed up nearly two miles to the west of the town, with one motorist complaining that it took him one-and-a-half hours to get from Roaring River to Ocho Rios, a distance normally covered in five minutes.

The police were kept busy throughout, directing traffic flow.
By mid-morning, a National Works Agency team, using four front-end loaders, had started cleaning up the mess.

Professor Roosevelt Crooks of the Medical Response/Disaster Preparedness team, said he was out from 3:00 am.
"I was here 3 o'clock, the place was inundated; it was knee high. All shops in Ocean Village Shopping Centre, which I'm president of the strata, all of them are flooded. Separate and apart from that, all the silt as far as Milford coming down through Parry Town, everything washed all the way down," Dr Crooks said.

Town folks lay the blame for the mudslide on the amount of mining and construction said to be taking place in communities that lie above Ocho Rios' elevation.

Communities such as Pimento Walk, Harrison Town, Parry Town, Snow Hill, Fern Gully are all at higher elevations than Ocho Rios, and water from those communities and the roads leading from them, with whatever was picked up along the way, ended up in Ocho Rios.

Dr Cooks expressed concern about the possible outbreak of diseases as a result of the flooding.

"My concern, however, is the places that don't have proper toilet facilities, because I've seen this morning scandal bags with faeces," he said. "So all of that was washed down here, so you can imagine the amount of disease that can come from that, it's quite a cause for concern."

Up to 4:30 pm, it was unclear if any emergency centres had been opened..

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