Flood fury

A desperate fight for survival, a missing woman feared dead and 13 residents forced from their homes. That was the grim aftermath of torrential rainfall that swept through the York Street community in Linstead, St Catherine, on Friday, leaving a trail of destruction and renewing calls for urgent improvements to the area’s drainage infrastructure.

Sixty-three-year-old Rhona Barrett is presumed dead after the Toyota Fielder motor car she was driving was swept away by raging floodwaters as she attempted to cross the Russell Pen Gully in the community.

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A search party comprising police officers, firefighters and residents combed the area throughout Saturday in a search-and-recovery operation for Barrett or her remains, but their efforts proved unsuccessful.