Marooned Llandewey residents demand fast-tracking of bridge construction

Residents of Llandewey, St Thomas, are calling for construction of a new bridge to access the community to be expedited after being left marooned amid heavy rains which have rendered the alternative route impassable.

They said construction of the bridge started in March and lamented that the process has been delayed.

"Dem seh it shudda tek three months to complete. Now it's more than three months and nothing major nuh do yet so we cudda avoid this," Dave Duncan, a resident of the community told The Gleaner.

"We know we were gonna have that problem because there is no way to get out if the water come down like it come down now. So we stuck now until the water run off,"  he added.

He said a culvert was built as a temporary solution, however that has been flooded. 

"Dem build a drain, a single culvert ting, and we a seh if no rain shudda come down da likkle one single deh nah go able fi contain di volume of water weh aguh come down through there so that's what happen right now," Duncan said.

Another resident, who did not share his name, wants member of Parliament for Western St Thomas, James Robertson to intervene to help speed up the bridge building process. 

Jamaica is currently under a Tropical Storm Watch.

A Flash Flood Warning is also in effect for low-lying and flood-prone areas of the southern and eastern parishes of Westmoreland, St Elizabeth, Manchester, Clarendon, St Catherine, Kingston and St Andrew, Portland, St Mary and St Thomas.

-Sashana Small 

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