By Tamara King, Staff Reporter 
'Phillip'... helped in yesterday's rescue effort.
ONE WOMAN died during heavy rains which lashed sections of the island yesterday. The woman was a passenger in a car which was swept away at about 2:00 p.m. in the Cassia Park Gully in St. Andrew.
A man who was also in the vehicle managed to escape the ordeal and was later rescued by residents along Molynes Road.
The 1999 Honda Civic motor car, licensed 6777 DQ and registered to Pauline Grey of a Dunrobin address in St. Andrew, was washed away after the driver chanced to cross the overflowing Cassia Park Gully.
Up to press time last night, the name of the deceased was not established. A 37-year-old bicycle repair man, who gave his name as 'Phillip' said he attempted to rescue the woman at the outset.
"I was looking in the gully seeing how di water was coming fast, it look like de bridge was moving, like we in a ship. Same time mi look up, mi see di car coming backwards." He said he raised an alarm and other residents gathered quickly.
According to Phillip, the car rolled over on its top in the gully and came to a standstill. The male passenger in the car helped himself out and the residents shouted encouragement for him not to let go but wait until they organised a rescue team. The current proved too strong and the unidentified man floated on the muddied water for about quarter-mile down the gully until he was eventually rescued by another man. The woman, Phillip said, was still in the vehicle.
After the police and Fire Department were alerted, a helicopter circled the area, but was unable to land without damaging homes and in the end it was a three-man team from the area which pulled the woman from the car. However, attempts made by personnel from the Fire Brigade to resuscitate the woman, proved too late. She was later pronounced dead at the Kingston Public Hospital.
The residents chastised the police and firemen for not doing enough to save the woman's life.
The residents blamed the unsuccessful rescue on the ill-equipped team from the Half-Way Tree Fire Department, which they say, could not even contribute a crowbar to the rescue effort.
