Hanover spared by recent flood rains

Western Bureau:

Hanover appeared to have escaped the wrath of the recent heavy rains which lashed the island, resulting in millions of dollars in damage to the nation’s road network and major losses in the agricultural sector.

While the local agricultural sector took a J$2-billion battering, the Hanover branch of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) says that, based on their preliminary investigations, the flood rains did not significantly impact the parish.

“Even though we are still getting some rain, our assessment is ongoing, and while I do not want to jump the gun, there has been no reported case of any damage so far,” said Raymond Reid, the Hanover RADA parish manager.

“The rains are following on what could be described as an average year of production within the parish, and, luckily, there is no reported case of any major agricultural damage to date,” added Reid.

While Hanover is situated between two major tourist capitals in Montego Bay and Negril, the parish is primarily a farming one with scores of residents, especially in the more rural parts of the parish, earning their living through farming.

The rains that have been lashing the island over recent weeks have caused major woes for farmers in Clarendon, St Elizabeth, St Catherine, St Andrew, Westmoreland, Manchester, and St Thomas, whose farms were flooded, resulting in millions of dollars in farm produce being destroyed.

“We must consider ourselves quite lucky, considering what has happened in other parts of the island,” a young farmer from the Dias community told The Gleaner. “We have not always been lucky, so we have to give thanks.”

As it relates to the road network in Hanover, Kenisha Stennett-Dunbar told The Gleaner that, unlike many communities in eastern Jamaica, there was no reported case of flooding or landslides in the parish as a result of the rains which battered some sections of western Jamaica.

“We have not experienced much rainfall. So, as a result, we have not been impacted in any negative way. So we just continue in our preparation mode. So we continue to check the drains and do other mitigation duties,” said Stennett-Dunbar, while also excluding Hanover from the J$3 billion in infrastructural damage.

Stennett-Dunbar also noted that, because the rains experienced in the parish did not result in any dislocation of significance, there has been no need to open emergency shelters, albeit that shelter managers and volunteers in the parish were placed on alert to take up duties, if necessary.

“We have always been a blessed parish. So we continue to be less impacted (by the continuous rain) than any other parish,” said Stennett-Dunbar.