Thousands marooned after road collapses in east Portland

Gareth Davis, Gleaner Writer

Thousands of residents are now marooned following the collapse of the roadway at West Hill in Portland.

Vehicles have also been blocked inside the community.

Cracks started appearing along the roadway about three months ago, but worsened during three days of intense rainfall.

"Signs that the roadway was being undermined was quite evident after the rainfall last week," said Member of Parliament for Portland East, Dr Lynvale Bloomfield.

"This is a perennial problem that occurs whenever there is a heavy rainfall. It makes no sense for contractors to continue dumping the hole, which is like filling a cavity, when the problem keeps reoccurring. I am calling on the National Works Agency to exercise their engineering skills this time around, so as to correct this problem once and for all."

According to Bloomfield, the NWA will have to create a makeshift driving space to allow for the flow of vehicular traffic and pedestrians.

Workmen from the National Water Commission have been digging through a collapsed section of the roadway to clear pipelines.

The collapse of the road is also affecting residents in the Rio Grande Valley, who were battered by heavy rains and flooding last week.

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