Residents of Irish Town St Andrew use sandbags to prevent further erosion of the roadway. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

IMAGINE living in an area where the main road is narrow, broken and made up of dirt and sand?

That is the reality of persons in east rural St Andrew. Almost three months into the hurricane season, the residents of Middleton, Redlight and Irish Town are in fear that they could be marooned in the event of a natural disaster.

"If heavy rain or a hurricane should come, we would be cut off from the rest of the world," stated Nicole Allen, a resident of Middleton.

With their survival threatened, these people are not only praying that mother nature will be kind to Jamaica this year, they are praying that there will be no hurricane for the next 20 years.

road lined with sandbags

"I am not prepared for the season," said Blane Walker, a resident of Redlight.

When The Sunday Gleaner visited the area recently, sections of the roadway were lined with sandbags or stones.

This was evidence of the damage done before and during the passage of Hurricane Gustav last year.

Though the residents are yearning for government intervention, they are not sitting and waiting on the State.

They pointed to sections of the road where they had used sand and soil to effect crude repairs.

"Right there (Cactus Lawn, Middleton), a we fix di road so that we could have access to the rest of the community," Leveridge Raymond, a coffee farmer and disgruntled resident, said.

"You didn't feel fraid (afraid) when you have to drive on that track?" he asked The Sunday Gleaner team.

During the passage of Hurricane Gustav, the area called Cactus Lawn suffered a massive landslide, which split the community of Middleton.

But residents joined hands and used sand and soil to construct a path which is barely wide enough to accommodate the wheels of a motor car.

"That is the main road, you know," Masha Douse, a resident, pointed out.

community effort

According to Douse, it is through the community effort that residents were able to have access to their neighbours after Hurricane Dean.

"For several years, anything that needs to be done in the area is carried through by community effort," said Danny Williams, chairman of the Irish Town, Redlight and Middleton Community Development Association.

Williams could not immediately say how much money had been spent to effect the repairs, but said that businesses in the area also contributed to the efforts.

"We all support each other - rich and poor," Williams said.

But despite their efforts, the residents have not solved the problem of getting their farm produce out of the community.

own transportation

"To get our crops out of di area, we have to depend on our own transportation," Raymond stated.

It is a problem Member of Parliament Joseph Hibbert is well aware of.

He told The Sunday Gleaner that there was a proposal with the National Works Agency for the roads to be fixed.

According to Hibbert, the design for the project has been completed and the estimates are now being prepared.

However, he argued that "cash flow is preventing the implementation of the project".

This car negotiates a very dangerous corner in Irish Town, St Andrew. The roads in this section of the island are in a deplorable condition.

Breakaway road above Red Light in St Andrew.