Floods batter Bayshore Park road
Published:Wednesday | October 28, 2020 | 12:07 AMChristopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer
Residents of Bayshore Park in Harbour View are not optimistic that the main road leading into their community will be rehabilitated anytime soon following the destruction of several sections of the surface after a weekend of withering wind and rain.
Already they are reeling from the impact with taxi services, as well as the delivery of food and other services critical to day-to-day survival, compromised.
Patronage at a business complex housing a bar, meat shop, and grocery just a stone’s throw from the dual carriageway has plummeted, as delivery men have been reluctant to travel where angels fear to tread.
“Some of them park on the main road and come up, but some of them naw chance it, because normally the vehicle them would a come right up to the shop door and deliver, but now them don’t even want to come a gate,” said Lorraine, who operates the grocery.
On Monday, a police team on patrol reportedly tried to access the community but their vehicle could not navigate the treacherous roadway.
A senior citizen who slowly made her way into the community was doubtful about the prospects of speedy rehabilitation.
“This ya road a swimming pool now. Even inna (Hurricane) Gilbert, the road nuh mash up so,” she said aloud.
NO OPTION
Along Everest Drive in the community, there was no discernibly navigable path.
A woman who gave her name as Kerry Ann explained that while the roadway was not in pristine condition before the rains, it had been accessible to vehicular traffic. That is no longer an option.
Kerry Ann said that persons engaged in construction were now hamstrung, as trucks could no longer drop off building material such as aggregate, concrete blocks, steel, and cement.
The scale of the problem suggests that a quick fix is not likely, she said.
“We have to wait because we don’t know if the rain done (finish) yet,” said Kerry Ann.