Continuous rainfall in St. Mary, Portland and St. Catherine is affecting the efforts of the National Works Agency to clear blocked roads and assess the damage to infrastructure.
The National Works Agency is advising motorists travelling along affected roadways to proceed with extreme caution as they are slippery and wet. The Agency will continue to monitor corridors that have been impacted and clearance of the roadways will commence as soon as the weather allows.
In the meantime, the NWA is advising that the Troja to Sports Park roadway in St. Catherine is blocked. There is no alternative route. Residents in the communities of John Crowe Spring, Ham Walk, Pear Tree Grove, Rio Mango and Dunkell are now marooned. The Sports Park to Post Road was blocked but it has been reopened to single lane. The Rio Cobre is being monitored and motorists should listen for advisories regarding the use of the Bog Walk Gorge and the alternative routes.
In St. Mary the NWA continues to monitor several areas that have been impacted. These include the North Coast Highway between Port Maria and Galina where a section of the roadway collapsed and the Little Bay area just outside Port Maria where falling rocks continue to restrict the passage of motor vehicles. The Agency has been advised that there are breakaways along a section of the Hamilton Mountain and Ramble roadways. A section of the roadway between Bailey’s Vale and Free Hill via Oxford has also failed.
In Portland, , land slippages along the Black Hill main road between Lennox and Hope Bay continue, reducing sections of the roadway to single lane.
There is inundation caused by a blocked drain along the main road in Hart Hill, just past the St. Mary/Portland border and the section of road between Orange Bay and Lennox is also inundated.
State Minister in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing (MTWH), Hon. Richard Azan and the CEO, NWA, E.G. Hunter will be touring St. Mary on Thursday, December 18, 2014. Areas to be visited include the North-coast Highway (Villa Road and Little Bay); the roads from Fort George to Camberwell; Little Bay to Jacks River; Trinity to Fontabelle and Sanside to Palmetto Grove.
The Minister will be accompanied by a team of senior engineers from the NWA.
The NWA is advising motorists to proceed along the affected roadways with caution and to look out for falling rocks, fallen trees, wash down silt and debris.
