Landslide threat in St Thomas

They are prepared to wait patiently for the long-needed road, willing also to suffer water lock-offs, noise pollution, and daily dust nuisance.

But the threat of hillsides tumbling with their homes during the next bout of heavy rainfall is not among the perils they can bear.

For more than six months, the homes in Stewart Field, a rustic community in St Thomas, have been in jeopardy after workmen excavated a chunk of the hillside as part of works for the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project.

Now, their humble dwellings are in danger of falling on to the roadway leading from Seaforth to Trinity Ville, where gunmen, in an unrelated incident in February, attempted to extort contractors at a section of the site.

In addition to the loss of life and property, landslides would further stymie visits to the famed Reggae Falls, to which the roadway leads.

It needs to be rectified quickly, residents said.

“We are just watching to see what happens. They said they are going to build a four-foot wall embankment, but I don’t see how four-foot is going to work. But all I know is this can’t stay like this,” said Vivian Reid, a resident whose house will be among the first to go if the landslide threat is not averted.

Reid listened warily to forecasts of increased rainfall last weekend, the types of announcements that give him chills. It’s likely to be deja vu for Reid, with a tropical storm watch in effect for Jamaica on Monday as Tropical Depression Grace moved closer to the island.

Tropical storm conditions pose a possible threat to Jamaica within 48 hours, the Meteorological Service said on Monday.

“It’s just because Father God has been going lenient. If we did get the storm the other day and the whole heap of water, not even light post would leave standing. There is no longer a drain to direct the water coming off the hill, so where will the water run go?” asked Reid, pointing to his home atop the hillside.

“But I can tell them if that ever wash away, I don’t want any more board structure, you know! Is four bedrooms I want with concrete. And me not sleeping at door neither,” he quipped.

Dust nuisance

Reid’s neighbour, Osbourne McKenzie, skipped over open trenches up the excavated hillside on his way home last Thursday.

The Johnson River, he said, has been an oasis from water lock-offs sparked by the roadwork though dust from passing work trucks forces residents to keep windows and doors shut.

The dust plumes extend for miles along the roadway, turning cookshops, churches, a gas station, and other buildings in Seaforth square and the surroundings into a yellow tint akin to scenes from an old western movie.

“There is a gully that comes down off the hill, and if the right rain falls when the water coming down here, it’s not anything pretty.

“They were supposed to come and fix this a long time, but I don’t know what they are doing,” he continued, noting that he has even given permission for contractors to relocate his entrance gate.

He might not have a house, however, if the situation is not addressed soon. Alcar Construction and Haulage is responsible for work at that section of the roadway, but information regarding how soon the retaining wall will be built was not immediately clear last week.

In the meantime, St James Western Member of Parliament James Robertson is banking on the development to bring desperate improvement to a parish that has been neglected for decades.

“When people drive to St Thomas and they see the amount of work being done from Harbour View to Cedar Valley, people are beginning to take heart,” the member of parliament told the newspaper in a recent interview.

“When people see that the new Morant Bay town centre is still on and is part of the mix and their future, they believe that this is a place that they can retire,” Robertson added.

corey.robinson@gleanerjm.com