Rain wreaks havoc in Harbour View

Almost 30 families in Harbour View,  St Andrew are now in fear after floodwater destroyed the perimeter walls at the back of their properties early this morning.

According to the residents of the houses on Harbour Drive, about one this morning they heard a loud rumbling and rushed to the rear of their premises to find the walls gone after the water, channelled through a gully behind the properties, caused the earth to cave in.

“We have had over six feet of erosion since 2015 and if you look you can see that the light posts are now threatened.  If the light posts go down it could be a major fire hazard,” said Orion Archat, president of the Harbour View Citizens’ Association.

“We have senior citizens who are about to be displaced.  This is catastrophic.  If you look up there the earth is caving in towards the back porch.  Right here it is the same thing.  The earth is saturated,” added Archat as he stood in premises at 19 Harbour Drive and pointed to a property two doors away.

Archat said the citizens’ association has long pointed to the possibility of this problem occurring but its plea for the matter to be addressed has fallen on deaf ears.

“We have been lobbying the Government and we have been telling them that we are facing a problem, fix the issue, but nothing has been done.”

Archat noted that the silt and stone that partially blocked a section of the Sir Florizel Glasspole Boulevard this morning, had washed down from the gully behind the houses on Harbour Drive and warned that the situation could get worse if the rain continues today.

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