CHRISTIANA, Manchester — Scores on onlookers gathered yesterday as a three-storey commercial building collapsed in this north-eastern town following days of heavy rains that lashed the island.

According to residents, the building, which had been under construction for just over two months, was poorly constructed.

Christopher Gordon, who was among those watching as two people tried to secure the collapsed structure from would-be trespassers, said greater measures should have been implemented in constructing the building.

“From the beginning they should have made a wall to protect it from this. From construction started on the building the rain never stop fall. I think at the back, a wall should have been built, because that is what had to be done at a neighbouring plaza,” he opined.

“From me a little boy mi see dem a construct building with a lot of reinforcement before you put up a big structure. This is not flat land. You have all different types of soil here. You have soil that is stone and clay that is very easy to slip away. You have level land that don’t move so easy, as well,” he added.

He also pointed out the need for good landscaping.

“Some people don’t know how to landscape their land, because water can break away any land,” he said.

When contacted yesterday, Mandeville Mayor Donovan Mitchell said he would make checks to ascertain if the owner of the land had been granted approval to build the structure, but up to press time he did not provide an update.

— Kasey Williams