Claverty Cottage residents appeal for help

CLAVERTY COTTAGE, West Portland:

Residents in Claverty Cottage in Portland, whose movement has been restricted due to multiple land slippages along the main thoroughfare leading from Chepstowe, are appealing for help to clear the blocked roadways following four days of torrential rainfall.

The rains, which started on Thursday of last week, continue to affect residents including farmers, teachers, and students, who are unable to venture in and out of the community due to several road blocks caused by multiple landslides.

Late yesterday, West Portland Member of Parliament (MP) Daryl Vaz pointed out that arrangements have been made to dispatch heavy-duty equipment to clear the landslides, even though the area was still experiencing inclement weather.

Vaz explained that the Chepstowe to Claverty Cottage area, which spans a distance of approximately 12 miles, has undergone repairs in recent times, but frequent rainfall continues to create havoc as the soil is easily saturated and becomes loose during heavy rainfall.

In the meantime, one resident, Anthony Ray, who is pleading for the farm road to be repaired, argued that such conditions, if not addressed speedily, could prevent teachers from attending school at Claverty Cottage Primary, along with ordinary residents who he said would not be able to enter or leave the area to conduct business.

“From Chepstowe to Claverty (Claverty Cottage) is about eight miles of roadway which is not usable by motor vehicles," commented Ray.

“Cars cannot even attempt to drive on this roadway and only pick-up trucks are used along that corridor. This has been happening for most of my life and it poses a serious challenge for residents to get in and out whenever it rains. If this rain continues for a next two days, it might be a situation where we will have serious disaster."

Two teachers, along with the principal of Claverty Cottage Primary were not present at school when The Gleaner visited the area, while some students attending high schools in Buff Bay and Port Antonio were unable to attend school due to the blocked roadways.

It was arguably the most challenging terrain that was traversed by The Gleaner on Monday, with a three and a half hour walk along a roadway riddle with craters, slippery conditions, and inundated in some areas.

Meanwhile, Ralston Thomas, a coffee farmer who is providing assistance to residents, including students, to get to school in his pick-up truck, said the four days of heavy rainfall had further compounded the already bad road conditions faced by them. The impacted roads extend to the farm road from Chepstowe to Claverty Cottage, a distance of approximately eight miles.

“For us, managing up here on a daily basis is really rough. The MP send a back-hoe (heavy-duty equipment) up here just before the election to clear the roadway and do repairs, but all a dat mash up now, “commented Thomas.

“Di rain a fall from about Thursday or Friday and today (Monday) is the best day, even though it is still raining. Dis really affect farmers, teachers, and business people. Not even di teacher dem can get fi come back into the community. Only di two pick-up dem can move and one a dem bruck down now. We need a tractor pon di road immediately to clear the road block and di drain need fi clear. We plant coffee, banana, plantain, and other quick crop. Right now if we have to get our produce to market we might have to use a donkey or a mule," he concluded.

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