Residents of Alley (left) stand at the edge of the broken bridge waving to residents of Water Lane. The Alley bridge broke in two last October and is yet to be repaired. Residents have been trying to repair it themselves. - IAN ALLEN
THOUGH THE HURRICANES of last year and the year before may seem distant to some, many others are today, still dealing with the effects of nature's wrath.
In October 2005, during Hurricane Wilma, the Alley Bridge which serves the communities of Alley, Water Lane and Race Course in Clarendon, was split in two. Residents were forced to journey 20 additional miles to get to either side and were also forced to pay, sometimes $150 more in taxi fares.
RESTORING THE BRIDGE
With the new hurricane season now officially started, residents have taken matters, and perhaps their lives, into their own hands. They told THE STAR that they decided to come together, source sand and other material, and work to get the bridge restored.
The residents say work on the bridge was completed on June 1, but lament that the heavy rains on the fifth rendered their work useless. When THE STAR visited the area, some residents were using wheelbarrows filled with stones and marl, to create a ramp to allow motorists access to the bridge. They were also busy moving large logs that had been washed up by the river. Denham Edwards, a worker at the scene, told THE STAR that they had to make efforts to help people move around.
But the residents have encountered some amount of problems. Edwards told THE STAR that the work was voluntary, but that they had been asking for donations to help with food in the days. He accused some persons of telling the police that they were extorting people and said the lawmen banned them from working on the bridge.
The residents of Treasure Beach, St.Elizabeth, are also dealing with the consequences of the hurricanes even now. Hurricane Wilma struck the island's south coast with great fury last October, and there is still evidence in the community to prove it.
What was once a playing field, is now a huge pond, and this has been so since just after the hurricane. The body of water has settled in front of one woman's house, forcing her to take a different, longer route to work, a distance which before the hurricane was little more than a dart across the field. Residents say the authorities are now planning to dig a trench so the water can run off .
The Treasure Beach Shopping Centre still shows signs of the battering it received from the hurricane. Water marks tell just how high the water was and the majority of the shops are unoccupied because people are wary of renting as they fear water damage may have compromised the integrity of the building.
David Feanny, the owner of a store in the plaza, told THE STAR, "this water is bigger than all of us put together. We're at the mercy of that project [trench digging] right now." He worries that the next big shower might be all it takes to wash everything away. He also added that the work had started late, as the hurricane season had already started.
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