Reports of flooding amid severe weather alert

The police are advising motorist travelling into Kingston to avoid the eastbound lane of Marcus Garvey which is now impassable.

Persons must use alternative routes or delay travel until the waters have receded, said the constabulary.

Old Harbour News has received reports from the Milk River Division in Clarendon South, where the Parnassus community is flooded due to rising waters.

In the Old Harbour area, residents of Nightingale Grove Housing Scheme are on high alert as the Coburn Gully is in spate and could overflow any moment now.  

However, at Big Pond the area is said to be in good stead and the threat of flooding is not a major concern at the moment for residents.

The Met Office has declared a Flash Flood Warning for low-lying and flood-prone areas of central and eastern parishes until 5:00 pm today, while periods of showers and thunderstorms are in the forecast going into the weekend. 

Within the last hour, the National Hurricane Center in the United States reported that the cyclone has predictably morphed into a Tropical Depression and will likely strengthen as conditions are conducive.

Hence a Tropical Storm warning has been issued for the Cayman Islands and portions of western Cuba.

The Miami-based weather observatory said: “At 11 a.m. EDT, the center of Tropical Depression Nine was located over the west-central Caribbean Sea about 210 miles (340 km) southeast of Grand Cayman and about 115 miles (180 km) south-southwest of Negril, Jamaica. The depression is moving toward the northwest near 13 mph (20 km/h), and this general motion should continue over the next few days. On the forecast track, the center of the depression will pass near of over the Cayman Islands tonight, the Isle of Youth and Western Cuba Friday, and move over the southeastern and central Gulf of Mexico Friday night and Saturday. The system is forecast to approach the U.S. northern Gulf coast on Sunday.

“Maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph (55 km/h) with higher gusts. The estimated minimum central pressure is 1005 mb (29.68 inches). Steady strengthening is forecast during the next few days. The depression is expected to become a tropical storm tonight, and become a hurricane when it is near western Cuba or over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. Additional strengthening is likely over the Gulf of Mexico and the system could be near major hurricane strength when it approaches the northern Gulf coast.

The next name on the Atlantic Hurricane list is "Ida”.

The experts noted that: “The depression is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 6 to 10 inches with maximum totals of 15 inches across Jamaica. Rainfall totals of 8 to 12 inches with isolated maximum amounts of 20 inches are expected across the Cayman Islands, western Cuba, including the Isle of Youth and the northeast portions of the Yucatan Peninsula. These rainfall amounts may produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides. Rainfall from this system is likely to begin impacting portions of the central U.S. Gulf Coast by early Sunday.”