KINGSTON, Jamaica — As the Caribbean region braces for the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, which officially kicks off on June 1, Jamaica’s National Works Agency (NWA) has launched a major infrastructure upgrade initiative to strengthen flood management systems across St Andrew parish. The multi-million dollar project targets the rehabilitation of sections of six critical gullies, key water infrastructure that reduces flooding risk during intense tropical storm activity.
The six gully sections marked for upgrades include two stretches of the Constant Spring Gully along Carawina Avenue, the waterway passing beneath Torrington Bridge, Yoro Crescent Gully, Burgher Gully, and Gem Road Gully. Stephen Shaw, NWA’s Manager of Communication and Customer Services, confirmed that on-site construction has already started at two of the targeted sites: Yoro Crescent Gully and Gem Road Gully.
At the Gem Road Gully location, crews are focused on reconstructing a segment of the gully’s retaining wall and invert — the channel floor designed to facilitate unobstructed water flow. Shaw noted that this portion of the work is already approaching completion. For Burgher Gully, permanent upgrades are set to begin in the near future, following extensive temporary stabilization work NWA completed ahead of Hurricane Melissa’s landfall in 2025. The separate contract for Burgher Gully is valued at more than $30 million, and will cover repairs to damaged sections of the waterway’s invert and retaining walls.
According to NWA’s project timeline, construction at all remaining unstarted gully sites is scheduled to break ground before the end of June, putting the infrastructure upgrade on track to be completed ahead of the peak of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, which typically runs from August through October. The initiative forms part of Jamaica’s broader efforts to upgrade critical climate resilience infrastructure across the island, which faces recurrent tropical storm and flooding threats each Atlantic hurricane season.