By Denise Clarke, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
RESIDENTS OF Newmarket in St. Elizabeth are picking up the pieces and trying to resume normal lives, as water covering sections of the community for four months has finally begun to recede.
The water began rising last September after Tropical Storms Isidore and Lili dumped heavy showers on the island. Over a dozen families who were forced from their houses due to the rising waters have now started to return home to begin the difficult process of rebuilding their lives.
Peter Holness' home was spared from the flooding but he lost more than $250,000 worth of ground provisions when his farm was inundated with water.
"Me did have a couple head of cow and dem drown off. If me get a start me can make back some of the money, if me get like seed and so," he told The Gleaner.
Mr. Holness began replanting just last month when the water finally dried up off his property. He acknowledged that welfare representatives had visited the community and given assistance, but claimed that persons affected by the floods including himself, were not the ones who received aid.
Mr. Holness' cousin, Christopher Holness, and Kenroy Tatham are joint owners of a building which housed a restaurant and haberdashery before the floods came. Their businesses had opened just three weeks before the floods in September and both men claimed that their pre-flood operations had been successful.
Then the rains came and the restaurant and haberdashery were covered under several feet of water. Luckily, both men had hurriedly removed the goods from the building; however, their losses have run into thousands of dollars as the shops have been closed since last September. The men entered their shops for the first time last week when the water dried up from around the building.
"I am back to square one now," said Mr. Tatham. "I was closed for three months and lost a lot of money during that time."
Mr. Holness sells toiletries, household items and other knick-knacks in his haberdashery store. He lamented the fact that no-one in authority had offered him any assistance for the loss he suffered as a result of the flood.
"Nobody come here and take any names. You are the first person who come to talk to me about this," he pointed out.
Last week, both Mr. Tatham and his business partner were seen working feverishly to effect repairs to the entrance to the building. The shops have already been reopened to the public.
In the meantime, large bodies of water are still present in the community and many properties are still flooded. After months of closure, the Newmarket-to-Leamington main road was reopened to vehicular traffic just over a week ago. However, the road linking Newmarket to Darliston in Westmoreland remains closed, and is now one of those areas being used as a fishing pond by some residents. A section of that road is now covered with overgrown grass due to the prolonged closure.
The Water Resources Authority (WRA) report that the water level in Newmarket reached its peak on November 8 last year, reaching 349.4 metres above sea level. An average water depth of 20.6 metres was recorded in the main depression. In an published update on the status of the flooding situation in Newmarket up to December 17 last year, the WRA said this was just 4.24 metres below the level reached in 1979 when flood waters had covered almost the entire community.
The WRA reported that the water, which flooded a total area of 2.22 square kilometres, is now receding at an average rate of 0.06 metres per day. At this rate, the Authority estimates that it might take another five months for the waters to recede completely.
