GUSTAV did it again for Harbour View yesterday.
The eastern Kingston community became the main attraction after Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and again last year during the passage of Hurricane Dean, when storm surges did extensive damage to homes at Caribbean Terrace.
Tropical Storm Gustav, although not as furious, again pulled hundreds of sightseers to Harbour View yesterday when raging flood waters from the deceptive storm destroyed the Harbour bridge, cutting off the main link between Jamaica’s capital city, Kingston, and the rural parish of St Thomas.
It was like a spectacle to watch the young, not-so-young and the old gather on both sides of the river where a bridge stood up to Thursday night, watching the muddy water race down stream.
Some persons were there
- Hundreds flock to Harbour View to see collapsed bridge
- Several houses washed away in McGregor Gully only to observe the scene or to capture the moment on camera, but others like Dereck Bent had no idea how he would get home to his family in Yallahs, St Thomas as the alternative route, although several kilometres longer, was impassable as a result of landslides caused by the storm.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s announcement that a Bailey bridge would be erected within the next three to four days, while welcomed, offered very little comfort to some.
"Me was suppose to go home from Tuesday and no one never come to relieve me and right now me no have no money on me and no where to stay in Kingston," said Bent, a 35-year-old security guard.
Sislyn James said she sent her granddaughter to stay with relatives in Bull Bay where she would be safer, but now she was worried how soon she could return home.
A man who gave his name only as Ricky was expecting relatives to arrive from New York on a flight last night. However, up to late yesterday, he had no idea how they would get home to Yallahs.
He was stuck on the Bull Bay side of the bridge, and like so many others, he stood helplessly looking down at the angry water as it lapped dangerously around the already weakened structure.
Several others expressed concern that the gaping cracks in what remained of the bridge, could give way at anytime with those onlookers who insisted on crossing the yellow tape to make it as close to the edge as possible.
"Me not going out there cause me no want it break way with me," said one man, as his other two friends threw all caution aside and joined others who were taking photos at the edge of the river.
So engrossed were the onlookers that very few noticed the arrival of Prime Minister Golding as he walked to the edge of the collapsed structure to better assess the situation.
Golding told the Observer that enough material was being made available for the Bailey bridge to be erected as soon as the weather improved.
He said Transport and Works Minister Mike Henry, who was scheduled to return to the island later today, would see to the erection of a permanent bridge.
Several homes washed away along the McGregor Gully off Mountain View Avenue, also in the eastern section of Kingston, and the gruesome sight on the Palisadoes Road of the nude body of a woman, identified as Anna Campbell, 53, of Kintyre, believed to have been washed away in the flood waters, also drew hundreds of onlookers who braved the debris along the shore to view the body.
Still others salvaged gas cylinders, drinks crates and other items from the debris which the sea spewed out onto the shore.
Though unwelcome, Gustav will be an unforgettable visitor to McGregor Gully.
One resident who identified herself only as Claire said she lost everything when water flooded her home late Thursday night.
"Me was in my house when me hear the loud crash and when me look is a car come crashing through the wall and the water started to come in," she said. Food, appliances and clothes were quickly taken away by the rushing waters.
"Right now me deh here and want go bathe and I don’t have a piece of clothes to put on," she said.
Councillor for the Vineyard Town Division, Andrew Swaby, told the Observer that about 12 houses were washed away and several others flooded when the gully broke its bank in three places. “The youths from the community and the Fire Brigade had to take out people through their roofs,” he said. Swaby said 39 persons were being accommodated at a public shelter.
Along Spanish Town Road, motorists were stranded in the rapidly rising waters which were threatening to flow into some homes.
And in Port Royal, some streets were flooded, however, residents said it was nothing they could not handle.
The Palisadoes road, meanwhile, seemed to have withstood its first test since revetment work began on it a few months ago.
Although water settled in some sections of the roadway, the debris which would usually be washed unto it blocking off access to the Norman Manley International Airport, was curtailed beyond the huge boulders.
