Councillor blames new highway for Toll Gate

Winston Medley was forced to wade through knee-high water in his Toll Gate, Clarendon, yard after it was flooded by heavy rains that dumped on the island by a weather system which started on Wednesday.

Uphell Purcell, councillor for the York Town division, said that highway, which is under construction, has made conditions difficult for the residents. He said that while Toll Gate has always been prone to flooding, the manner in which the road is being constructed has made matters worse.

"I have spoken clearly on what will happen if they don't take how the water flows into consideration. The water flows north to south and the highway is built east to west," he explained.

"Now we have homes that are flooded that have never been flooded before. We have sections of the road flooded that have never been flooded before," said Purcell.

The councillor said that reopening two major gullies in Toll Gate, and the construction of some culverts will assist in alleviating the woes.

"There are also farmers whose crops are flooded out, and they have lost everything. When there was no highway, when it rained, you could still cross the road," he told THE WEEKEND STAR.

Major construction work is in progress for the third phase of the Highway 2000 project, which is a 28-kilometre stretch from the Rio Minho Bridge in Clarendon to Williamsfield.

Medley, like Purcell, is convinced that the flooding has worsened since work on the highway began.

His wife Rose, agreed that the highway has contributed to their recent woes, but said that flooding is a decades long issue.

"When we were younger and it rained, we could put our hands through the window and touch the water," she said.

Stephen Shaw, manager of communication and customer services at the National Works Agency, said that more than 10 corridors across the parishes of of St Thomas, St Andrew, St Catherine, Clarendon and St Elizabeth were affected by the weather system.