OCHO RIOS, St Ann - President of the St Ann Chamber of Commerce Norma Walters says the flooding and mudslide that crippled sections of Ocho Rios last week cannot be allowed to happen again.
"The mud bath has presented a reality check but we want to commend our citizens for the positive response to this act of God, of course resulting in the main from man’s irresponsibility and lack of attention to detail and of course our own shortsightedness," Walters told the Observer yesterday.
"The impact has really been hard on the business persons; we have lost some business days and we are now assessing the damage. Milford Road is still in bad shape. We look forward to getting to a situation wherein this will never recur; we cannot have this happening again," she said.
"Everybody in Ocho Rios takes responsibility and we’re not into the blame game, but this cannot happen again," added Walters.
Early last Thursday heavy rains that started the previous day forced a path of destruction along Milford Road, causing massive road damage and heavy soil erosion, resulting in tons of mud being deposited downtown Ocho Rios.
Businesses along a stretch of the road as well as the primary and high schools were forced to close following the flood damage, and up to yesterday several businessplaces remained closed.
Remedial work was stepped up yesterday as crews from the National Works Agency (NWA), Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) and the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) combined to clean up the affected areas of Ocho Rios.
Member of Parliament (MP) for North East St Ann, Shahine Robinson, who spent much of yesterday in Ocho Rios ensuring that work was done, said by the end of the week things should begin returning to normal.
"By Thursday we are expecting that things will be in a semblance of good order. It won’t be exactly right, or the way it was before, but it should be much better," Robinson said.
