MONTEGO BAY, St James – A landslide in the Long Hill area of St James yesterday left a female motorist in shock and caused a pile-up of traffic from Reading to Lethe for several hours.

The land slippage is believed to have been caused by heavy rains associated with the passage of Hurricane Dennis across the island.

The female was travelling in a white Toyota Tercel motor car toward Anchovy after 11:00 am when a large tree and several boulders came tumbling on to her vehicle from a nearby hillside.

The woman is said to have been on her way home from work at the time. She had to be taken from her vehicle by area residents and police officers and transported to hospital where she was treated for shock and released.

While she was transported to hospital, teams from the St James Fire Department and the National Works Agency (NWA) worked to clear the roadway that was blocked for about four hours by the collapsed tree and boulders.

Communications officer for the NWA’s western region,

Stephen Shaw, told the Observer that a section of the retaining wall was also damaged during the landslide but he said that the NWA would be moving speedily to effect repairs there.

Meanwhile St James, from all indications, fared well through Hurricane Dennis, which caused severe flooding in several sections of the island and forced a number of home owners to seek refuge in shelters.