River rage

Tennesia Malcolm, Staff Reporter

"IF ANYTHING should happen to me, remember I love you." Those were the poignant words that Joy Forrester wrote to her 23-year-old son in a text message Tuesday night as she clung to a tree in the rocks of the Bog Walk gorge, staring uncertainty in the face. With the waters of the Rio Cobre having overflowed on to the roadway and rising ominously, the 49-year-old was desperate, alone and afraid.

It was to have been a simple enough journey which would have taken her through the Bog Walk gorge to her home at Beacon Hill in Thompson Pen, St Catherine. But nature intercepted, unleashing its fury and leaving her trapped.

It was about 11:30 at night and four vehicles - three cars and a minibus - were marooned along the narrow stretch with the raging waters of the river on one side, and on the other, steep cliffs with sharp rocks protruding. To make matters worse, it was raining.

"So we tried to secure the vehicles and tell everybody to get out and get to high ground. I called the police and they gave me the same advice, so I started climbing on the rocks. In the dead of night without any light or anything, I couldn't see where to hold on to and so I just used my body to draw myself up on to the rocks," a flustered Forrester recalled.

She said with the water continuing to rise, the seven others - two women and three men - went off to secure the vehicles, moving them to another section of the road where the water was not very high.

"By the time they did so, the water was heavy in my direction, so they couldn't come back down there."

Alone in the cliffs

The others set up camp where they were but Forrester found herself alone in the cliffs.

Her only communication were text messages with her son and her quiet conversations with God.

"I prayed like I never prayed before. I tried to call my son and I couldn't get any response. He tried to call me back; the same. So we started texting."

Those messages, she said, were her only glimmer of hope as she waited out the rainy night with no hope of rescue.

At the dawn of a new day, Forrester saw the first signs of human life.

Some youngsters from Kent Village had already located the other people, so they "brought me through the water to the makeshift tent."

But help was on the way in the form of a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) helicopter.

"It was tricky for the helicopter to land because of the foliage that was there, so they actually had to do a lot of manoeuvring.

She said at this point, she ran through the water and was helped into the helicopter by JDF personnel.