St Mary people marooned

Hundreds of persons in some St Mary communities are now marooned as the heavy and continuous rains have left some roads blocked.



The National Works Agency (NWA) said motor vehicle access in now impossible to five roadways in St Mary.



They are the roadways from Lucky Hill to Halifax Bridge, Union Hill to Oracabessa, Oxford to Free Hill, Montreal to Top Derry and Langley to Boynes Park.



The NWA’s Communications Manager Stephen Shaw, said the roads have either being severely scoured, broken away or collapsed. Motor vehicle access is now even more difficult in additional Western Portland districts.



Mr Shaw said sections of the main roads from Hope Bay to Chips Hall and Chips Hall to Durham Gap in Portland are now inaccessible to motor vehicles as they have been badly washed out.



Teams from the NWA have been working since Monday to have some of these corridors reopened, but the effort is being hampered by a lack of the appropriate materials.



Mr Shaw said marl or river shingle is used to temporarily restore road surfaces, but because of the continuous rains the rivers are in spate and the marl is too saturated to use on the roads.