Bog Walk Gorge in St Catherine will remain closed for an unknown length of time to give authorities a chance to clear boulders that fell from a hillside during the passage of Tropical Storm Rafael, blocking the road near Flat Bridge that is the quickest route to Bog Walk, Linstead, and other St Catherine districts.

Tropical Storm Rafael impacted Jamaica with heavy rains on Monday and Tuesday, causing flooding in many communities across the island.

People who live within the gorge, as well as others who regularly have to traverse the area, have been experiencing great inconvenience since the passage of the tropical storm.

Robert Nesta Morgan, minister with responsibility for works, said the authorities are working to have the road reopened as quickly as possible so that the public may have use of it.

“The gorge was closed due to inundation by Tropical Storm Rafael. However, we had to keep it closed because we noticed there were three huge boulders in the gorge that will have to be removed for the road to be opened,” Morgan said.

However, he noted that even after the boulders are removed, the public would be placed in danger if the road were reopend immediately because the hillside, from where the boulders fell, has become unstable.

“What we have had to be doing is sending geologists and engineers from the National Works Agency into the area to do an assessment of the stability of the hillside and to start the work to remove the boulders,” Morgan said, then advised the public to avoid trying to go through the gorge as there is no space to drive through.

“The boulders have blocked the road totally. Even after we remove the boulders, until the road is opened we are advising motorists to stay away from the Bog Walk Gorge as the instability of the hillside may put their lives and property at risk,” Morgan warned on Friday in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

The minister said he was mindful that the route is usually used by a lot of people, but advised that they use alternative routes in the meantime, despite the inconvenience.

“We know the alternative routes are a bit longer, but we are trying to work as quickly as possible to open the gorge so that the public can have access to it. How long it remains closed all depends on what the geologist says. We have to depend on the experts to give us an idea of what needs to be done and how quickly we can do it,” Morgan added.

One female resident of West Prospect in Bog Walk told the Observer that since the road has been blocked she has had to be taking the toll road to get to and from Spanish Town in the parish. That has made things difficult for her.

“It is difficult, because when I am going to Spanish Town I have to be taking the toll — otherwise, I would just go through River Road [gorge] and I reach Spanish Town. Because I have to take a bus, they take $500 per person to travel on the toll; the fare is normally $200 on the usual route. You also take a longer time to reach,” she said.

“Everybody wants Flat Bridge to reopen. Some people understand that it may not reopen for now. Some are hoping that it will open back by this Sunday, but that won’t happen because it has to clean up and the road has to be washed off. It was a landslide, so they will also have to make sure that nothing more comes down the hillside when they reopen it,” the woman told the Observer.

Speaking more broadly about the situation with roads across the island, Minister Morgan said assessment was ongoing but the nation will receive an update on the extent of the damage soon.

“We are out there doing our assessments and the prime minister will be making a statement very shortly as to what’s the damage and what the Government will be doing. Our patching programme continues now that the rain has abated, and you will see our teams across the island doing patching. Our patching was halted because we have had unprecedented rainfall over the last two months,” said Morgan.

“Patching work will continue up until March next year. We will be fixing roads all the way up until March next year and we expect the SPARK programme to kick in close to the end of November, so we will have a significant amount of roadwork taking place over the next six months,” the minister said, referencing the Government’s $45-billion Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) programme, aimed at fixing road and water networks across Jamaica.