Hope River strikes

Arthur Hall, Senior Gleaner Writer

SEVERAL RESIDENTS of Tavern and August Town in Papine, St Andrew, were counting their lucky stars yesterday despite not being sure where they were going to sleep last night.

The raging Hope River destroyed three houses on its banks in Tavern and Kintyre leaving several persons without a roof over their heads.

But even as the residents lamented their losses, they were thankful that no lives had been lost.

The community is no stranger to the wrath of the Hope River and residents have frequently mourned when it overflows its banks claiming property and life.

This time, the residents say, one man broke his leg when his house, which was on the bank of the river, collapsed but he was quickly rescued from the angry river and taken to hospital.

Others managed to escape before their houses caved in; while up to late yesterday, persons whose houses were perched precariously on the banks of the river were moving their furniture out.

Across the river, persons in Kintyre were again cut off as the only bridge to drive into their community was flooded.

This situation is all too familiar to the residents who say they are faced with this every time it rains.

Barely holding up

The only other way out of the community is by a foot path and a hanging bridge, that the residents say is barely holding up.

In the nearby August Town, a family had a narrow escape as a gully wall collapsed taking the greater portion of their house with it.

"About one o'clock, me start watch the water in the gully as it rise. Me say to me sister and and the children them we coming out and by the time we open the door, me hear the wall make a loud sound," said Charmaine Foster, the house owner.

She said three school-aged children lost most of their belongings to the flood waters.

Metres away, in the section of August Town known as Goldsmith Villa, other families had a lucky escape as a landslide moved rocks and other debris into their houses.