St Thomas folk fear maroon river risk

Having been repeatedly trapped inside their community following heavy rainfall and perennial flooding from the overflowing Negro River, residents of River Head in St Thomas said they are weary of state neglect and are demanding swift intervention by the Government.

Maxford Heath lamented that the flooding episodes have been so disruptive that householders have been unable to go to work outside the community.

“When rain fall, you can’t cross it ... . Anytime you see rain fall, the water come right up to it, so you can’t cross it,” Heath said of separate bridges constructed for vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

Students often opted not to risk the journey, because the closest primary school to the neighbourhood is Somerset in St Andrew.

In order to prevent crashes or mitigate against motor vehicles from slipping off the bridge during floods, Heath has recommended that the structure be raised and that guardrails be added.

“Bike man all run off this and drop down in there several times,” another resident chimed in, emphasising the danger motorists face during torrential rainfall.

Residents forcefully expressed their concerns during Wednesday’s tour of St Thomas Western by Member of Parliament James Robertson and de facto works minister Everald Warmington, as well as officials from government agencies.

Warmington conceded that his observations indicated that “a whole lot of funds” is required to address the crisis, “as most of the road structures were in very bad condition”.

“I don’t believe that our regular budgetary process, budgetary allocation, will be able to address most of what I’ve seen,” the works minister said.

Others in River Head were displeased with the state of the community’s access roads, which they say have been in poor condition for almost 10 years.

In the absence of an asphalted corridor, commuters would have to navigate river rocks and large, jagged stones to get to the community.

“We nah no road. ... . All up on the hill? We nah no road,” an elderly woman said. “We lock in and can’t come out for how much days. Like how the rain ease up, a best time fi we yah now,” she further stated.

Yvonne Williams, another resident, appealed to the Government “to spend back a dollar towards the road”.

She said that the bridge was not the only source of concern. River Head lacks proper road infrastructure and reliable water supply, she told The Gleaner.

“And remember, the community is not just down here, our community is up there,” she said, in reference to the bridge, while speaking to a member of Warmington’s Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.

Robertson, in response to Williams, said that he had explained the scale of the impact to Warmington.

“It is a massive community that could carry its own basic school. Children are going from here down to Rambo, across the river bridges [to attend school],” he said.

However, residents were unhappy that the touring party did not venture further into the community to view the other roads that are in disrepair.

Warmington, however, cautioned that he did not want to “build up too much expectation”, and urged onlookers to be “realistic and reasonable”.

The tour began in Albion and went through Llandewey, Easington, Richmond Vale to Richmond Gap, Mount Vernon to Albion Mountain Crossing, Bethel to Ness Castle, Hagley Gap to Penlyne Castle, and Morganville to the Mahogany Vale bridge.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com