A frantic search is now underway near the delta of the Hope River in Harbour View where a man was reportedly washed away by flood waters.

Police report, that two men tried to cross the river where a high ford was washed away earlier this morning.

"Two men were attempting to cross the river to the other side one made it but we can't find the other," a police officer on the scene told the Observer.Minutes before the man went missing he was seen fighting heavy waves that rose out of the angry river that leads into the Caribbean Sea.Curious onlookers say the ford was completely destroyed by heavy roads lashing the island in the last 36 hours.

The destruction has left scores of people from the eastern end of the island cut off from the nation's capital of Kingston.