Member of Parliament for Clarendon South Western, the People’s National Party’s Lothan Cousins, has painted a picture of devastation in the constituency following Hurricane Beryl, which sideswiped the country’s south coast on July 3.
Clarendon was one of the parishes hardest hit, with areas such as Portland Cottage and Rocky Point faring badly and the housing stock and fishing villages heavily impacted.
Cousins said his constituency was equally hard hit.
Speaking in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Cousins expressed skepticism regarding a statement by Prime Minister Andrew Holness, that electricity will be restored to the vast majority of JPS customers by Saturday, July 13, owing to the level of destruction to the electricity grid in his constituency.
He said communities like Race Course, Banks and Milk River suffered significant damage.
Cousins told the House that critical infrastructure, including the Alley bridge, were severely impacted. He said Milk River Primary School lost its roof, while there was roof damage to Rest Primary School, which is located in Milk River.
A section of the roof of the Milk River Primary School in Clarendon that was blown off.
Additionally, Exeter Police Station lost its roof and Cousins called for immediate action from the authorities to address this, noting that “we have come a far way in that area in terms of crimefighting.
“We were at a stage where murders were rampant and we’ve gotten it down so these are the critical infrastructure that needs to be addressed expeditiously so that there can be some semblance of normalcy in the community,” he said.
Up to Tuesday, the constituency was without water and Cousins said this was not a surprise to him since most of the water comes from the Kemps Hill facility where the pumps were down because of a lack of electricity.
An uprooted tree rests on a house in Clarendon after the passage of Hurricane Beryl.
Cousins shared that the corridor between Alley and Water Lane was littered with downed JPS poles. He said that up to Tuesday, only vehicles below 10-feet could access the Alley community because light poles and wires littered the roadway, forcing some motorists to drive beneath the dangling wires.
The first-term MP asked the prime minister: “Are we saying that on the 13th of July, this Saturday, that power will be restored to southern Clarendon?”
That would be very good news for us but I must treat that announcement with some degree of skepticism because of what I know is present on the ground and the fact that we know that many of these first responders have not been there on the ground.
He chided the Ministry of Labour’s May Pen office, declaring its response to the disaster to be “woefully inadequate”.
And he questioned when the National water Commission would start trucking water to the constituency. In the interim, Cousins said private arrangements were being made to get water to residents.
He lauded the Wray and Nephew Group for opening up its New Yarmouth facility and making available food packages and generators for some communities.
Meanwhile, community residents have been clearing debris and assisting their neighbours with rebuilding their homes.
CAPTIONS: L-R – Section of the roof of the Milk River Primary School that was blown off; a tree came to rest on a house; the remains of a destroyed house; damage to a main road caused by flood waters
