Jamaica was severely battered by the heavy rains associated with Hurricane Flora. Two people died and hundreds had to be evacuated to places of safety by soldiers.

Published Monday, October 7, 1963

Flood rains ravage entire island

-Hurricane still churns fiercely north of Jamaica

-Corporate Area has heaviest fall of the century

TWO PEOPLE were known to have lost their lives as a result of unprecedented flood rains which covered Jamaica Saturday and yesterday, part of a general pattern formed by Hurricane Flora, and stretching over 5,000 square miles of the Caribbean, from well below Jamaica right up to the environs of Miami.

A woman died in the Hope River on Saturday, and a man died in the Rio Cobre, yesterday.

These have been the heaviest rains of the century and in the added history of Jamaica have brought havoc throughout the island and caused damage which up to late last night was estimated to cost Jamaica over £500,000.

The Corporate Area was flooded by the continuous downpour. The Sandy Gully drainage scheme, now under construction was ripped wide open, and the rampaging waters tore across the unprotected ground, menacing property and life. The damage done to this incomplete system is estimated will run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Elsewhere in the Corporate Area, people at Pembroke Hall and Harbour View had to be evacuated, houses at highly residential Norbrook Pen, and in the lowly Foreshore Road area were undermined and overturned. Barbican, Havendale and Meadowbrook were under water. Light and telephone communications were cut in widespread areas and traffic was snarled.

Country areas were also cut off for several hours from the city’s administrative centre in Kingston. There were reports of damage in the rural areas. All roads except roads in parts of Portland and St Thomas were under water; there were landslides along many roads, and all roads were dangerous for driving.

WASHED AWAY

Banana cultivations were levelled in St Mary, Portland, St Thomas, Caymanas in St Catherine, and in St Ann.

The Police Station at Ferry had been evacuated. The Police complement there removed to the White Marl Elementary School with a number of families from the area who had first sought shelter at the Ferry Police Station.

Coconuts and other plant crops fared just as badly on the Northcoast and in the southwestern end of the island and back in Kingston (and elsewhere in the island) bridges were washed out and roads were torn up. Small craft were restricted to ports. The seawall at Port Maria was washed out.

Also in Kingston early fears of the rising waters, caused by the Sandy Gully drainage scheme wash-out, had panicked the people living around the Foreshore Road area.

Some 100 families sought and have been given shelter at the Hunt’s Bay Police Station and other families have been housed at the Denham Town School, and at the Denham Town Police Station.

In Harbour View, the Police had to evacuate the ground floor of their station due to rising waters. They carried on from the upper floor. And along Riverside Drive in that area, 36 families were evacuated.

Thirty-five of them found shelter in the area and one family, wife and thirteen children, had been housed at the National Stadium. The family was evacuated by the Army and took with them two army truck-load of belongings. The stadium itself was undamaged but roads leading to the stadium have been severely damaged.

The rains came as hurricane Flora remained stationary 125 miles north of Jamaica spreading a rain belt over some 5000 square miles.

Homes were washed away communications disrupted and property damaged in the second day of continuous rain, accompanied at times by gale-force winds.

CUT OFF

Kingston was cut off from most of the rest of the island and the extent of damage in the country parts was still not ascertained up to late last night.

But in the city floods wreaked havoc in gullies and on some of the major streets of the city.

Families were evacuated, from section of Harbour View and Pembroke Hall with the aid of the Military and the Police Station, under instructions from the Prime Minister, Sir Alexander Bustamante.

The Prime Minister instructed the Secretary of the Board of Supervision and the Commissioner of Police to investigate conditions in certain sections of the city and in the parishes of Portland, Clarendon and St Mary with a view to rendering relief.

The Minister of Health and officials in other parishes have also been instructed to send in reports of conditions in other parishes.

All troops of the Jamaica Defence Force have been alerted to stand by for relief duty. They had been stationed in homes in Harbour View when the Dry River broke through the banks and cut off several homes along Riverside Drive.

They have also been posted at Maverly and have been transporting stores and rations from the Central Emergency Relief Committee to Marverly School. They also took families and household effects for temporary accommodation at the National Stadium.

Water mains were hard hit on the city leaving many sections of the Corporate Area without water supply.

All the telephone trunk lines from Kingston to the country parts were reported out of order with the exception of the connection to St Ann’s Bay. In the Corporate Area, the Telephone Company said 1,000 lines were out of order, out of 28,000 but it was the worst situation yet experienced in many decades.

Rail services between Kingston and Montego Bay and Port Antonio were cut off yesterday when the line between the city and Gregory Park was washed out.

More than 11 inches of rain have fallen in the Corporate Area since 1:00 p.m. Saturday. The Meteorological Office at Palisadoes reported that the rains were the most severe since Hurricane Charlie gauged a record 16.93 inches in 1951 for a similar period.

The Met Office spokesman said the rain affecting Jamaica was part of a rain belt associated with Hurricane Flora and covering an area of 5,000 square miles.

At 5:00 o’clock yesterday the Weather Office said Flora was expected to remain almost stationary south of Cuba over the next 12 hours.

MORE FLOODING

The indications were that it would not get close enough to the island to cause hurricane-force winds but the island-wide rains would continue today with flooding in areas of poor drainage.

Maximum winds associated with the hurricane were about 110 m.p.h. near the centre with sustained gale force winds extending 110 miles south of the centre.

The rains in the city curtailed bus service all day. Jamaican Omnibus Services closed down all services at 9:00 o’clock last night.

Reports from Portland were that the Buff Bay River had overflowed its banks and flooded the town of Buff Bay. Residents were being evacuated from dangerous areas.

The Gleaner’s correspondent in Port Antonio reported continuous rains and heavy seas but not much damage around the town or within a radius of five miles.

Heavy damage was reported to banana cultivation in the Orange Bay area but other effects of the weather could not yet be ascertained because of communications difficulty.

Most of the rest of the country was cut off from the city by a breakdown in the island’s telegraph services, still unrestored up to late last night.

But in the city relief measures were being organized. The Salvation Army said a relief team had been set up at the National Stadium providing hot coffee and helping evacuated families to settle down.

Mr Rupert Arscott, Secretary of the Central Emergency Relief Committee, said that the committee had been supplying hurricane lanterns, beds, mattresses, food, bedding and clothing to be sheltered in several centres.

Families from Harbour View and Pembroke Hall were taken to the National Stadium. Those rescued in the Maverley area were given shelter in the Maverley School and in the old Police station in the area.

Evacuees from Rose Town were moved into the Trench Town school. About 75 families from the Penwood area were given accommodation in the Halmagle School.

People from McGregor Gully in the Mountain View area and Homestead Road have been sheltered in the Windward Road School.

The Relief organization also issued food tickets to about 1,000 persons from Kingston Pen. Distribution took place at Denham Town Police station.

The Committee also had to do some individual rescue work, among them a woman in Hope Pastures and another in Havendale whose homes were flooded out.

Mr Arscott said the committee would continue to stand by through the night and today to meet emergencies.

The floods also caused rail chaos.

The Port Antonio-Kingston early morning diesel was held up for an estimated four hours by a rockfall on the line near Bog Walk. The train later managed to get through to Spanish Town where passengers were collected by a bus provided by the Jamaican Railway Corporation.

The line between Kingston and Gregory Park was washed out, and passengers on the Montego Bay-Kingston diesel service were also taken off at Spanish Town and brought to the city by bus.

All later services were cancelled yesterday and because of more reported rockfalls on the Port Antonio line the service will not operate today.

A decision on the operation of the Montego Bay service will be taken when engineers have examined the track.

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