News

Lucky to be alive

By LEIGHTON WILLIAMS, Staff Reporter

NAVEL HINDS AND his family are in a predicament. Their woes have come about because a truck ran off the Mount Rosser main road in St. Catherine and sent tons of rock and dirt into his house.

Hinds' ordeal began last Tuesday at 2 p.m. when the truck, carrying dirt, broke through a retaining wall and fell 30 feet below the road about three feet from the house, sending the debris into his property.

"I was sitting on the veranda with my 87-year-old mother when I saw the truck hit the wall. Is like a di spirit of God tell mi seh fi tell her fi get up because as me seh so di truck an' dirt come dung pon di house," he said.

His mother who can hardly walk had to seek refuge in the back of the house while he ran to the side. The incident has left him and his family struggling to get by since then as dirt and rocks have covered most of his house. The problem has worsened because whenever it rains more dirt gets washed down into his house.

"Right now we nuh really have no clothes. Mi mother lose all har shoes an' clothes because it bury under the dirt so she couldn't even go church this morning. Right now because a how tings stay here she deh stay wid some family a Ochie," he said.

Hinds said the incident has left him without a home. He said although Windalco has rented a house for the family in a nearby area they have no beds to sleep on or clothes to wear as most of their furniture was damaged by dirt.

"The one dem wha lef we caan touch it because the insurance people fi di truck nuh come look pon di damage yet," he said. "All a we food in a di fridge spoil because di truck an' dirt tear dung di light post," he said, pointing to broken light pole in the yard.

Affected sister's health

Hinds said the incident has affected his sister's health as she took ill upon hearing the news. He adds that the rocks and dirt have tilted his house which was built 40 years ago. Hinds believes the problem could have been averted as about a year ago he reportedly informed the National Works Agency that the rocks at the foundation of the retaining wall had started to loosen.

"Mi call dem an' tell dem an' mi sister call dem an' tell dem because some rock a drop out. Dem seh dem neva have no money fi fix it. Waan nex' piece did lick out up di road an' dem fix an' nobody neva live down there but weh people live dem nah fix," he said.

Hinds said although he still stays in the dirt and mud at the house because he has no choice, he is fearful another truck may come tumbling down on him soon.

"Dem still come roun di corner hard sometime an' nutten nuh deh deh fi warn dem so one more might come dung here pon we," he said.

Although he is grateful that the truck was removed from his property, albeit three days after, he believes everyone has been tardy in dealing with his situation.

"We tell dem (MP, Councillor) 'bout it an' we nuh hear nutten from dem. If dem could a jus gi' we two mattress we would a happy but not even dat we nuh get," he said.