JUST over nine months after Hurricane Melissa sent residents of Bath, St Thomas, scrambling from their houses as the Plantain Garden River tore into its banks, washed away a parked car, and threatened to swallow lands inches from their homes, residents say a recent riverbank intervention has done little to ease their fears.

Dirt pushed along the edge in July has provided some protection, residents acknowledge, but they insist it is no substitute for a groyne in and the proper channelling of the river.

Therefore, they are warning that another bout of heavy rain could once again send floodwaters towards their homes, further eroding the riverbank and putting the wider community, including Bath Primary School, at risk.

They are also adamant that another major weather event, similar to Hurricane Melissa which ravaged sections of the island on October 28, 2025, could finally cause their homes to collapse into the river’s path.

Bath resident Tracy-Ann Emanuel points towards the vulnerable section of the Plantain Garden River in Bath, St Thomas, where residents fear another bout of heavy rain could send floodwaters toward their homes.

When the Jamaica Observer returned to the area last Thursday the scene was markedly different from the one residents had confronted during Melissa’s onslaught last year.

Dirt had been pushed along the edge of the area where the riverbank had broken away, while additional dirt had been placed in the space through which the river flows, apparently to obstruct the water’s path and keep it from pushing towards the vulnerable section.

But for residents who have spent years watching the river steadily eat away at the landscape, the intervention has brought only limited reassurance.

Charline Gabas, who lives in the community at the very edge, acknowledged that the dirt has made the immediate area feel somewhat safer, but said it has not addressed what she considers the fundamental problem — the absence of a proper channel to carry the river away from the homes.

Homes teetering on the edge of the eroded riverbank in Bath, St Thomas, where residents say continued erosion by the Plantain Garden River threatens the safety of the community.

“Don’t get me wrong, enuh, if this was not here I would not be able to stand up here, cause when mi stand up here suh it is a little bit safer. But listen, what we are saying — because we have been here for years — they need to take out that piece and channel it to that dry piece of land over the other side, dig it and carry down there suh so [that] when the river comes down it goes that side and follows that channel instead of come over here. Because with how it stay now, the water is going to come over her same way,” Gabas told the Jamaica Observer.

Last October, as Hurricane Melissa battered Jamaica, sections of the Plantain Garden River bank collapsed, prompting residents living nearby to quickly evacuate their homes. Video footage circulated on social media showed residents fleeing as a section of the riverbank gave way, sweeping away a parked car in the process.

For residents, the episode was not entirely unexpected.

During an October visit, Bath resident Theodore Bailey said the community had been calling for the river to be properly protected for more than two decades. He pointed to cracks in the soil near the threatened homes and warned that the saturated ground could still give way even after the hurricane had passed.

Furthermore, the river’s movement has also changed the landscape over time, according to Gabas who rejected the suggestion that residents had simply built their homes too close to the river’s path.

She said the river was once much farther from the houses and that the encroachment had occurred gradually, as the water continued to wash away the land.

“We could not see river and build we house beside it, we are not that stupid… That is what I am trying to tell people, that the river was all the way over there suh but over time it keep on coming over and washing away the land,” she said, noting that she has lived in the community for 19 years and has watched the river steadily encroach on the land.

Initially, residents had suggested that large boulders be used to strengthen the vulnerable section, similar to measures they had seen elsewhere.

But Gabas said the current deterioration of the riverbank means that approach is no longer enough.

“At the time we ask them fi turn the river and we did a seh get the big stone dem, at that time it never suh bad suh we did a suggest they could use the boulders like wah dem use over Yallahs or Port Royal road [Palisadoes]. But then it get so bad now so that is no longer an option. The river have to groyne back, turn the river and groyne it back,” Gabas said.

Tracy-Ann Emanuel, another Bath resident, said the current intervention does not appear capable of withstanding the force of the river during sustained rainfall. She argued that the river needs to be properly trained — a process that, in practical terms, involves controlling and directing the water’s course so that it does not continue spilling into vulnerable areas.

“Well this nuh mek any sense. They need to rebuild a groyne, this place really need fi groyne back, because if one next big shower of rain come we are going to be in problem, so when PG [Plantain Garden] river a come it a guh push back the dirt fi come over here suh,” she reasoned.

Concerns were also raised about how long it took officials to address the issue. According to Gabas, the work was carried out roughly three to four weeks before the Sunday Observer revisited the area last Thursday.

She said residents had become increasingly concerned as the hurricane season progressed and they saw no work being done yet were given no explanation about who was responsible for the eventual intervention.

She said the lack of consultation has added to the frustration.

According to Gabas, workers arrived, carried out the work, and left without explaining to residents what was being done or what the intervention was intended to achieve. At the time of the Sunday Observer’s visit she said residents did not know which agency had undertaken the work.

Gabas said residents are particularly anxious because relocating is not a realistic option for many of them.

“We cannot move, we nuh have any options. When hurricane came October and we had to move out we things because of what happened and by November I had to move in again [that was one thing], but [now] mi nuh have a next option. Mi nuh have the money to buy land and start over and make a next house again,” she said.

So residents are watching the weather closely and worrying about what another prolonged period of rainfall could bring.

Gabas said the dirt has at least created enough of a barrier to make it possible for her to stand at the edge of the vulnerable area without feeling as exposed as before. But she does not regard that as evidence that the underlying danger has been addressed.

She also pointed to what she sees as a gap between the authorities carrying out physical work and the residents living with the consequences.

Gabas said the Sunday Observer team was the first group, since Hurricane Melissa, to return and speak directly with residents about the condition of the river and their concerns.

“From Hurricane Melissa come last year October unnu a the first set of people who come and have a conversation with we and ask we about the river, nobody else. Anybody else we see, dem just come work and point; dem nuh know we and we nuh know dem. The tractor man seh a work him get fi push dirt and him just a work! The rest a people dem just come in and look, and point finger, and gwaan,” she expressed.

The National Works Agency (NWA) has since been identified as the agency responsible for the intervention work.

Stephen Shaw, the NWA’s manager of communication and customer services, confirmed to the Sunday Observer last Friday that the agency carried out the intervention but said he could not provide details at the time.

For the residents of Bath, however, the immediate concern is less about who moved the dirt and more about whether it will hold when the river next rises.