Dwight Nelson, Star writer

The effects of Hurricane Gustav might not be felt in Clarendon, but the parish's local authority is taking no chances.

The Clarendon Parish Council is on full alert for any possible effects the hurricane might have on the parish and have taken several measures to cushion such effects.

"We are in an advance stage, in terms of our drain-cleaning exercise in the parish, as drains in nine divisions have been fully cleaned while drains in three divisions are presently being cleaned," Charmaine Williams, coordinator of Disaster Preparedness for Clarendon told THE STAR. "Priority drains in flood-prone areas such as Portland Cottage, Rocky Point and Four Paths will also be checked to ensure that they are free from blockage."

Shelter managers

The parish council has also put all shelter managers in the parish on alert as well as the National Works Agency, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Poor Relief Department, the Jamaica Red Cross and all their councillors.

For regions such as Rocky Point, Mitchell Town and Portland Cottage, which are flood prone and considered disaster areas, the threat of a hurricane can be a nightmare, as several persons have still not recovered from the devastation caused by Hurricane Dean last August.

"I should not foresee a lot of problems in terms of flooding in areas in the Rocky Point division because we have been cleaning our drains from as early as June," Councillor Winston Maragh told THE STAR. "However, because we did an early drain-cleaning exercise, a lot of vegetation have taken the drains, so we are now in the process of removing these vegetation."