Five consecutive days of intense downpours across large swathes of western Jamaica have left critical infrastructure damaged and communities grappling with widespread flooding, with a key inter-parish road now split completely in half by severe erosion. The collapsed stretch connects the Hanover communities of Kendall and Glasgow, prompting the National Works Agency (NWA) to launch an urgent damage assessment to determine the scope of repairs needed to restore the vital thoroughfare.
Footage capturing the fractured roadway in Kendall, as well as submerged streets and properties across flood-hit Westmoreland, has spread rapidly across social media platforms, bringing the scale of the weather disruption into public view. While the road damage is extensive, NWA Western Region Community Relations Officer Janel Ricketts confirmed to local outlet Observer Online that the collapse does not present an immediate hazard to people traveling the area on foot.
“Pedestrians are not in any danger here right now,” Ricketts explained. “But motorists who attempt to drive through the damaged stretch face a high risk of severe damage to their vehicles.” For drivers needing to travel between the two communities, officials have mapped a formal alternate route that runs through Caudwell, connecting Kingsvale to Prospect.
The current wave of extreme rainfall is the second major disruption to hit western Jamaica’s transport network in less than a week. On Tuesday, overflow from the Riley River—also referred to as the Lucea West River— inundated the center of Lucea, leaving motorists traveling between the popular tourist hubs of Negril and Montego Bay stuck for hours before waters receded. By Wednesday and Thursday, flood warnings were issued across multiple communities in Westmoreland, including the parish capital Savanna-la-Mar.
One Harmony Town, Savanna-la-Mar resident documented her flooded home in a viral social media video, blaming two days of repeated inundation by muddy floodwater on clogged, unmaintained local drains that could not channel excess rainwater away from residential areas. Ricketts noted that standing water remains on many secondary roads across western Jamaica as scattered rainfall continues, but added that no other major infrastructure failures have been reported as of Friday morning’s update. “At this time, there are no other major issues to report,” she assured the public.