FLOOD HORROR IN JAMAICA: 'The water was about 10 feet or more' 'Lawd, it a come, it a come,' Sunnyside resident recalls flooding horror

Debris on the top of this gate show how high the
 flood waters rose in Sunnyside, Linstead, St Catherine,
yesterday morning. (Photo: Garfield Robinson) 

BY RACQUEL PORTER Observer staff reporter porterr@jamaicaobserver.com  Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Frantic cries for help from neighbours jolted Angela Lewis from her sleep about 2:00 am yesterday, alerting her to the danger she, her relatives and other residents of Sunnyside, Linstead, St Catherine, faced from rising, angry flood waters.“I heard someone calling for help. I got up and looked through my window and saw a lot of water on the road,” Lewis told the Jamaica Observer. “I was saying to myself, 'Oh, my God'. So I woke my mom and two nieces. When we got up we realised that this not something to play with. The water came in from the back and the front. When I pulled the grille to go outside I realised that I couldn't manage. I started to wonder what next to do.”

Her main concern at that time, she said, was her mother, who has difficulty walking.

“I was wondering what to do with her, but then I remembered that there is a kitchen counter [so] we lift her and put her on the counter,” Lewis explained, adding that she started praying for the dawn to come quickly.

By then, most of the community was flooded as the Rio Magna was in spate.

“The water was about 10 feet or more, that was how high the water was,” she said. “The water was almost level to the window. So we are not talking about a little bit of water. We are talking about a whole heap of water.”

To prove her claim, Lewis pointed to a truck she said was parked on the road and which was overturned by the volume and force of the water. more