The National Works Agency (NWA) has put its teams on high alert to respond to any situation relating to the heavy rains that is predicted to affect the country over the next two days. The Meteorological Office has issued a Severe Weather Alert for the island, relating to a Tropical Wave that is now in the Caribbean.
Manager, Communication and Customer Services at the NWA, Stephen Shaw says that the agency is currently cleaning some critical drains, some of which had been impacted by heavy rains a week ago. These include drains along Marcus Garvey Drive and Chesterfield Drive in St. Andrew. Desilting work is also underway at Chalky River in St. Andrew, where the bridge linking the parish to St. Thomas was threatened by silt.
Work is also underway within the channel of the Cane River, where a failed embankment has seen the main road between Papine and Bull Bay in St. Andrew still being impassable. The agency continues its efforts at reconnecting this corridor but is being challenged by the magnitude of the erosion and the proximity of the river to the road embankment.
Drain cleaning work is also being done in sections of Westmoreland which was also impacted by the heavy rains.
Mr. Shaw says that the NWA is still calculating the damage caused by the rains last week. The estimate to reopen the affected roads to date is approximately 373 million dollars.
