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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Anger hangs heavy in Port Maria</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline>Flood waters leave residents, businesses high and dry</SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>BY OLIVIA LEIGH CAMPBELL Sunday Observer reporter
Sunday, December 03, 2006
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<P class=StoryText align=justify>It's been a week since a flood of muddy water inundated the seaside north coast town of Port Maria, but even though the water has run off, everything still smells mouldy.
And with rain falling on and off all of last week, everything is still wet and covered with a sticky film of mud, remnants of the debris and sediment that washed through when water from the Othrum River spilled into the town.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Dark, angry cloud hovered over the coastal town last week as business owners and residents tried to pick up the pieces of their soggy and muddied lives and livelihoods.
"Vex? I more than vex. I don't even know where to start," said a visibly enraged Michael Thomas, a lifelong resident of Port Maria whose house was ruined when the water flowed in, leaving his furniture and appliances ruined, his home muddied and dirty. "Is somebody I know feel sorry for me and give me these," he said, tugging on the clothes he was wearing.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=330 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>A view of the recently constructed Othrum River Bridge, which residents of the town blame for the flooding two weeks ago. The National Works Agency, while admitting that the bridge is built low, says the bridge was not the cause of the flooding.</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Thomas' situation is not much different from that of hundreds people who live and work in and around Port Maria, which two weeks ago bore the brunt of flash floods that accompanied the unusually heavy rains. And like many others in the town, he's pointing to incompetence as the reason for his suffering.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"This one is not God's fault, this was a man-made catastrophe," he added, hissing his teeth in annoyance.
Two Thursdays ago, as a weather system that passed over Jamaica brought several days of continuous rain, the Othrum River, which runs through the western end of Port Maria, like many other rivers in affected north coast parishes, became swollen. What happened next, however, was highly unusual, even for a town that lies below sea level and is bordered by two rivers - the Pagee to the east and the Othrum to the west - with the Caribbean Sea to the north.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Late that afternoon, following several hours of continuous rain, people in the town started noticing that the Othrum was topping its banks north of a bridge recently constructed over the river.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=330 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Some of the debris washed downstream along the Othrum River that contributed to the flooding of Port Maria two Thursdays ago. </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>"It did rain nuff still, but what happened was that a whole lot of garbage and what not started backing up behind the new bridge, and when the water came down there was nowhere for it to go but into the town," explained a Port Maria resident waiting at the town's main bus stop.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Stennett Street, one of the worst-affected areas in the small town, is Port Maria's main thoroughfare, and runs parallel to the Othrum, which flows through the western section of the tow
<SPAN class=Subheadline>Flood waters leave residents, businesses high and dry</SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>BY OLIVIA LEIGH CAMPBELL Sunday Observer reporter
Sunday, December 03, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>It's been a week since a flood of muddy water inundated the seaside north coast town of Port Maria, but even though the water has run off, everything still smells mouldy.
And with rain falling on and off all of last week, everything is still wet and covered with a sticky film of mud, remnants of the debris and sediment that washed through when water from the Othrum River spilled into the town.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Dark, angry cloud hovered over the coastal town last week as business owners and residents tried to pick up the pieces of their soggy and muddied lives and livelihoods.
"Vex? I more than vex. I don't even know where to start," said a visibly enraged Michael Thomas, a lifelong resident of Port Maria whose house was ruined when the water flowed in, leaving his furniture and appliances ruined, his home muddied and dirty. "Is somebody I know feel sorry for me and give me these," he said, tugging on the clothes he was wearing.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=330 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>A view of the recently constructed Othrum River Bridge, which residents of the town blame for the flooding two weeks ago. The National Works Agency, while admitting that the bridge is built low, says the bridge was not the cause of the flooding.</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Thomas' situation is not much different from that of hundreds people who live and work in and around Port Maria, which two weeks ago bore the brunt of flash floods that accompanied the unusually heavy rains. And like many others in the town, he's pointing to incompetence as the reason for his suffering.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"This one is not God's fault, this was a man-made catastrophe," he added, hissing his teeth in annoyance. Two Thursdays ago, as a weather system that passed over Jamaica brought several days of continuous rain, the Othrum River, which runs through the western end of Port Maria, like many other rivers in affected north coast parishes, became swollen. What happened next, however, was highly unusual, even for a town that lies below sea level and is bordered by two rivers - the Pagee to the east and the Othrum to the west - with the Caribbean Sea to the north.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Late that afternoon, following several hours of continuous rain, people in the town started noticing that the Othrum was topping its banks north of a bridge recently constructed over the river.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=330 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Some of the debris washed downstream along the Othrum River that contributed to the flooding of Port Maria two Thursdays ago. </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>"It did rain nuff still, but what happened was that a whole lot of garbage and what not started backing up behind the new bridge, and when the water came down there was nowhere for it to go but into the town," explained a Port Maria resident waiting at the town's main bus stop.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Stennett Street, one of the worst-affected areas in the small town, is Port Maria's main thoroughfare, and runs parallel to the Othrum, which flows through the western section of the tow
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