Tropical Storm Gustav, on Thursday - Friday, August 28-29,2008...had a devastating effect on Jamaica...but especially our island's Eastern and Southern Parishes.
So devastating was Gustav's fury, that bridges, houses and gullies crumbled under the rising and swift- moving waters.
One such bridge affected, was the Hope Bridge, one of the two bridges that connect the two parishes of Kingston and St. Thomas...
Most of the bridge was washed away when the underlying Hope River, raged and swelled under storm-force winds and rains.
People were left marooned, on either side of the river, as one of the major bridges that allowed them to travel into Kingston and into St.Thomas, was no more.
On Sunday, August 31, 2008, when the winds and rains had subsided...young men from the Harbour View and St. Thomas communities, on either side of the river, took matters into their own hands, literally...they offered to brave the Hope River and carry people across (on their backs, or via seats formed by two people clasping two pairs of hands together)..for a fee of course...Jamaican Dollar(JMD) $100- $200 per person (USD $1.40 - $2.80 per person.)
[They charge upwards of up to JMD$1000/person (USD $14/person) for persons wishing to carry loads (baskets of food and produce, etc.) across the river, from either side.]
Thus giving a new face to entrepreneurship (the process by which people start new businesses based on novel/new-to-the-world ideas) in Jamaica.
Some people said they were scared when crossing the river, but they had confidence in the young men taking them across.
On Saturday August 30, 2008, the government of Jamaica, understanding the dire straits that people on either side of the river were experiencing, from the missing bridge, started constructing a Bailey Bridge that would replace the old bridge that washed away.
We don't know when this new bridge will be finished, but we understand that this should be partially-finished, today, to allow vehicles of less than 12 tonnes (including cars and buses), across.
There will be another bridge constructed for heavier trucks that carry construction material...further up the river, where the distance to cross, is less.
Gillian
Sources Include
1. Television Jamaica's News Nightly News at 7:00 p.m., September 1,2008
2. Radio Programme, "On the Agenda", Nationwide Radio, September 2, 2008.
