The government agency has put all its disaster response teams on standby and is working with various contractors who are partners in its disaster response effort, to clean critical drains in some parishes. 

Equipment to reopen roads in the event of landslides has been pre-positioned along the Junction Road in St. Mary and at Roselle in St. Thomas. These corridors are critical to the movement of goods and persons between several communities in these parishes and Kingston.

According to NWA Communication and Customer Service Manager Stephen Shaw the strategic positioning of equipment minimizes the response time, in the event of the island being significantly impacted by the hurricane. The NWA has spent over 100 million dollars on drain cleaning and mitigation activities over the last three months. Critical drains have been cleaned in several communities throughout the island.

This is part of the effort to avoid or mitigate flooding in the aftermath of the heavy rains expected in association with Hurricane Gustav. Mr. Shaw says the NWA is now focusing on re-opening several of these drains in the parishes of St. James and Clarendon, before the impact of the hurricane.

Among the areas being targeted are Rocky Point, Osbourne Store, May Pen and Aenon Town in Clarendon. In May Pen, the NWA is cleaning drains along Nelson Street and the Rasta Gully. The Catherine Hall main drain in St. James is also being cleaned.