BREAKAWAY!
BREAKAWAY! . BREAKAWAY!
The Jamaica Observer
Persistent rain over the past six weeks resulted in this section of the Mount Airy to Brandon Hill road in St Andrew West rural collapsing Saturday night into Sunday morning.

The prospect of showers and thunderstorms associated with a weather system that could develop into a tropical storm affecting the island this week is spelling more woes for the residents of McGlashin and Mount Prospect, where the main road collapsed Sunday morning after six weeks of persistent rain.

Residents from the close to 100 houses in the hilly farming community have been left without vehicular access for some 80 metres and will now have to depend on a treacherously muddy walkway to get to their closest neighbours in Golden Spring or anywhere else.

“They sent me a [photo of a] crack [in the road] from last night, and this morning at about 8:30 they said it just went. I don’t know. I am waiting for the engineers to take a look,” Member of Parliament (MP) for St Andrew West Rural Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn told the Jamaica Observer Sunday evening.

“The problem is, the soil in my constituency — from Golden Spring, to Lawrence Tavern, to Brandon Hill — is very sandy, and when you have rain for six weeks straight you are going to have some problems,” she said.

Video footage shared with the Observer by residents captured expressions of dismay from awestruck individuals.

“Some of the houses are way down in ravines. The National Works Agency (NWA) has to come and do the assessment; the ravine is very, very deep, the Government is going to have to look and see, with the amount of people that live there, whether they need to make an alternative entrance,” Cuthbert-Flynn said Sunday.

The MP, who said she visited the area and had “to walk with a stick”, given the terrain, shared that she has, in the interim, arranged for assistance to the residents for a temporary fix.

“Right now, they need a walkway. They have made one, but it’s very muddy; we will have to make it so that it’s not so treacherous. These people are very resilient; they said to me if I can drop some marl they will do the work to make sure that they build a better pathway,” Cuthbert-Flynn told the Observer.

In voicing concern about the implications of that journey for the elderly, children, and expectant mothers, especially in the event of a medical emergency, Cuthbert-Flynn said “It’s really crazy.”

“There is a way for them to walk, but as far as driving, it’s a good stretch [from] where they are cut off; it’s about 80 metres that they would have to walk to get taxi. They are able to get home, but if persons have groceries or load it is going to be a challenge to go back and forth,” she pointed out.

In the meantime, the MP said she is worried about how long rehabilitation will take, given the magnitude of the break.

“We will have to look at that scenario to see how we can rehabilitate that section. The problem with this breakaway is, it’s deep. I don’t know how they are going to build a wall and I don’t know where to begin, and how they are going to get back a road. I don’t see how they are going to get back a roadway,” the MP said.

The Observer, in the meantime, was also told that Mount Horeb and Poor Man’s Corner in the constituency have experienced major landslides, leaving roads impassable. Additionally, video footage sent to the Observer showed major breakaways at Belmore Road and the Mount Airy to Brandon Hill Road.

Manager, communication and customer services at the National Works Agency (NWA) Stephen Shaw told the Observer that the entity had been alerted about the development.

“We are aware. I don’t know that there is an alternative route, but from what I’ve seen in the report it’s a massive earth movement that has taken place,” Shaw said.

According to Shaw, given the magnitude of the damage, there would be no quick fix for residents.

“It will require significant engineering work, that is not something that will be done overnight, that will take some time. That is the most I can say at this time,” he told the Observer.

As to when the NWA would be able to assess the area he said, “It is a very difficult answer to give to say ‘tomorrow’, because we are going to be in a different kind of a zone tomorrow (Monday) with this weather system that is approaching the country. I don’t know that the technical persons will be able to go there tomorrow, given what we are being advised.”

Elsewhere across the island Shaw said the road from Border to Cuffy Gully in St Mary had also been rendered impassable because of the rain.

On Sunday, the Meteorological Service advised that a weather system that formed south of Jamaica is expected to gradually develop and is likely to become a tropical depression or tropical storm by Monday morning.

According to the Met Service, Jamaicans should expect mostly cloudy conditions with widespread showers and thunderstorms across the island, beginning late Sunday night through to the middle of this week.

“Additionally, tropical storm force winds (63 to 118 kilometres per hour) are expected to impact the island during this period,” the Met Service said.

Meanwhile, energy company, Jamaica Public Service (JPS), on Sunday indicated that it is prepared and ready to respond to the potential impact of the adverse weather conditions that are expected to affect the island over the next few days.

The company said it activated its 24-hour Adverse Weather Incident Command Operations at 4:00 pm Sunday to ensure safe and timely response to outages caused by the weather system.

“JPS has already started taking the necessary actions to ensure that both JPS teams and contractors are positioned to restore supply to the affected customers as safely and as quickly as possible,” a company release quoted President and CEO Hugh Grant.

He noted, however, that while every effort will be made to restore power supply to affected areas, safely and quickly, the teams may not be able to respond immediately if it is unsafe to do so.

“Depending on the severity of the impact of the adverse weather conditions on the power system, restoration could take hours, days, or even weeks. Our priority is to get the power restored safely and quickly, and we will be working with the relevant agencies to reduce delays caused by roadblocks and landslides. We ask our customers for their patience, and give our commitment to keeping affected customers updated throughout the process,” he said.

In the meantime, JPS is urging the public to stay away from fallen poles and downed power lines.

“Please make safety your first priority also, as we all work together to restore normalcy after the passage of the weather system,” Grant stressed.

The company reminded customers to make reports and get updates through the MyJPS mobile app, social media channels @myjpsonline, and the JPS WhatsApp channel.
Jamaica
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https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2024/11/04/breakaway-20241104-1011-585250/
2024-11-04
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BREAKAWAY!
BREAKAWAY!