Chalky Mount resident seeks assistance amid worry house could slip into gully

A Hopewell, Chalky Mount, St Andrew mother is living in fear that her home could slip into a nearby gully as a result of work done by the Ministry of Transport and Works (MTW).

But the MTW’s deputy chief engineer Philip Tudor has assured that the ministry has been trying to find a solution.

Small business owner Camille Bryant, who occupies an upstairs and downstairs wall and timber house with eight other occupants, told Barbados TODAY on Thursday that from what she could see, a substantial amount of water was settling under a stack of gabion baskets the MTW had erected directly in front of her house.

She said while the work, which has been starting and stopping since October 2021, was done to help stabilise the eroding land, it was creating problems for her.

“I believe that over time if nothing is done, the house will be pushed into the gully,” the concerned resident said.

Bryan got the opportunity to speak to Prime Minister Mia Mottley and other officials earlier this week, but said she was concerned about the time it would take for a follow-up visit to be conducted and what could occur in the interim.

“What is going to happen [if a bad system passes]? The weight from here [the stagnant water and gabions] is going to cause the soil to become unstable . . . . So that means these gabions are going to move. Some of them are tilting,” she lamented.

Bryant pointed to a surface crack near a gabion adjacent to a pavement in front of her house, from which water was leaking.

“That shows the water is trying to get out. That is why I have a continuous flow of water alongside the house and in front of my business,” she complained.

On Tuesday night, during the St Andrew Speaks town hall meeting at The Alleyne School, Bryant raised her concerns with members of the head table, which included Prime Minister Mottley, Member of Parliament for St Andrew Dr Romel Springer, and other government officials and technocrats.

In response, deputy chief engineer at MTW Philip Tudor explained that Bryant’s house was below road level and in front of a water course.

He said he was aware there was water there but said it was due to a burst pipe in the area “because water does not settle by gabions”.

Tudor added that land slippage was a major problem in the area and while MTW had made a driveway for Bryant and her family to access their home, “I’m not sure if it is adequate to do anything really structurally significant there because the whole area is moving”.

Prime Minister Mottley said there was a need to get an engineering and geotechnical report done to see what MTW could do to address the issue, noting that Bryant’s house being metres below road level was a possible contributing factor to the problem.

However, the Chalky Mount resident said water had been settling under the gabions for several weeks and the situation worsened during heavy rains as more water flowed onto her property.

She said she did not believe a runoff system had been created to facilitate the water that went through the gabions.

“The amount of water that is in there cannot get out through that crack and I would just like to see the work done here properly. You can see for yourself that the work is shoddy. If you look at the gabions, tell me how is that water going to get out?

“Tudor said water filters through the gabions and water doesn’t settle. The MTW dug out a footing before they put down the gabions and it is right here that the water is settling. You can see the moss on the rocks indicating where the water is settling.”

The mother of two placed her hand through one of the gabion baskets to show water was settling there, and also pointed to other gabion baskets along the footing with mossy rocks.

“Up here is made of clay [soil] and if you research it you would see that limestone holds water. So, if the water continues to saturate the land, what is going to happen? Then I would be told the house was poorly constructed,” she complained.

Bryant said she was also concerned about the type of materials used to build a temporary access road for her, referring to it as a sloped and slippery hazard.

She was also worried that the issues would affect the small beauty services business she operated from her home.

Bryant added that her house, like many others along the stretch, experienced land slippage from time to time during heavy rain. She said the slippage usually occurred at the back of the houses, a few metres away from a gully.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb