SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — Suzzette Cook, a resident of Haddo in Westmoreland, is afraid of losing her home and possibly her life because the retaining wall below the house collapsed last week after several days of torrential rains.

“Saturday morning, about 7:20, I’m in my bed and I feel the house start to shake,” Cooke told the Jamaica Observer. “And mi a tell you say fi the whole day mi feel tense. When I went to bed Saturday night, mi a hope and pray. Is like every time I doze off mi a feel the place a shake,”” she said.

She is even more concerned about her mother who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. She keeps a close eye on her as she fears she will wander outdoors, go too close to the breakaway and fall onto the busy road below.

Cooke’s family has been residing on the same plot of land for more than 30 years. She said her house was not in danger before work was done on the Ferris to Mackfield road. During road rehabilitation, the stone banking that had secured her property was cut away, leaving the family home in a corner. Cooke said in November 2023 she first noticed that there were cracks in the retaining wall. She called the National Works Agency (NWA) to highlight the issue, sending numerous photos to them after her first report showing that the cracks were getting wider. An assessment was done by the NWA in April of this year, but before the reinforcement could be done, the retaining wall collapsed.

“We had done an assessment on the property when the cracks started showing and an estimate ascertained,” said community relations officer for the NWA’s Western Region Janell Ricketts. “Sadly the retainer wall collapsed before we could [reinforce the wall].””

Ricketts told the Observer that while she cannot give a timeline for work to begin, the project is on the NWA’s list of things to do. The first step is to get a new estimate done.

A worried Cooke says she often asks Ricketts for updates.

Meanwhile, motorists who are traversing that route have been advised to proceed with caution. On Monday morning, NWA excavators were on-site cleaning away the mud and rocks that were left scattered in the road after the landslide.