Marooned out east

The raging waters of the Yallahs River had completely inundated the ford that connects several communities in rural St Andrew when Allan Thompson on Tuesday offered to assist another man trying to get across.

Midway through the journey, disaster struck. Thompson lost his balance and was swept away by the strong currents.

"Him wash weh 'bout 50 feet dung di river before him coulda grab on to a piece of bamboo. Then we haffi throw rope gi him fi pull him out," one resident of Robert's Field, in rural St Andrew, told The Gleaner yesterday.

The near tragedy, which was captured in a dramatic cellphone video, illuminates one of the many challenges facing residents in several rural St Andrew communities.

The ford, located in Robert's Field, provides a critical link between Mavis Bank and communities such as Halls Delight, Resource, Davis Hill and Westphalia, which are located on the other side of the Yallahs River.

river in spate

Yesterday, residents in these communities complained that they have been marooned in their homes because the heavy rains in the past week have left the river in spate.

Dahlia Brown, a long-time resident of Robert's Field, said she had not been able to go to work or send her children to school since the rains started.

"I don't even know when I am going to reach back to work," said Brown, concerned that even when the rains end, it could still be days before the river waters subside.

She believed the solution lied in the construction of an elevated bridge, something she and other residents say they have been promised for years.

"From me born me hear 'bout Yallahs River and I come see it same way and nutten don't do to it," Brown said.

Another resident of Robert's Field, who did not give his name, was not so kind, blasting successive members of parliament for paying lip service to their plight.

Several attempts to contact Joseph Hibbert, in whose East Rural St Andrew constituency the communities fall, were unsuccessful.

Though a huge land slippage also blocked a section of the main road near Mavis Bank since Tuesday, all was not lost for the residents of Robert's Field.

By mid-afternoon, crews from the National Works Agency had moved into the area promising that the road would have been cleared.