Residents in Claverty Cottage, West Portland marooned due to days of heavy rains

Four days of heavy rainfall, which triggered several landslides, has rendered the main thoroughfare at Claverty Cottage in West Portland impassable to vehicular traffic, while hundreds of residents are marooned.

The inclement weather that has been affecting sections of Buff Bay Valley up into the Blue Mountain areas, since last Thursday, where coffee and other crops are grown by farmers, is causing undue hardship on the farming community as well as affecting schools and businesses.

Landslides in some areas leading from Chepstowe to Claverty Cottage have disrupted the flow of traffic.

Ralston Thomas, a coffee farmer, who is providing assistance to residents, including students to get to school, in his pick-up truck, said that the four days of heavy rains has caused significant damage to the road network and farm lands.

"We need to get the roadways cleared so that vehicles can enter and exit the community. Teachers are unable to reach school as the roadway is blocked. And if we have any emergency situation, where someone is sick and need to go hospital, it will pose a challenge,” said Thomas.

At least two schools in the area, Claverty Cottage and Chepstowe Basic, are directly affected by the frequency of blocked roadways along that corridor, resulting in parents being forced to send their children to other institutions.

Pastor of Pilgrim Church of God, Rafel Willis, stated that unless drains and culverts are put in place, so as to channel the water off the road, the problem will persist.

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