Bridge over troubled water - Bushy Park residents construct new walkway after floodwaters sweep away old one

After parking his taxi cab along the sidewalk, Leon Thompson exited his vehicle and held on tightly to the tiny hands of his four small passengers.

They all walked towards a makeshift bridge, and Thompson lifted each child, making four trips, carrying them to the other side before bidding them goodbye.

"It is my duty to ensure that these children are okay. It challenging now because the road bad round by [Amity Hall] and it lonely. Mi end up have to raise the fare a bit, but not by much, because it take more gas. My concern and responsibility is the schoolchildren, especially the little ones because mi have to make sure dem go across safely," Thompson said.

This has been the reality for residents of Busy Park, St Catherine since last Tuesday, after floodwaters washed away a footbridge that they erected. The original bridge was washed away during the passage of Hurricane Beryl in July. The replacement bridge has been a relief for residents who found the alternate route through Amity Hall to be unsafe, longer and costly. Yesterday, residents, most of them men, paused their day jobs to assist in reconstructing the foot bridge. As the men got to work, the atmosphere was filled with bellyfuls of laughter as they joked around with each other. Materials from the original bridge, as well as pieces of palettes and plyboards were used to make the body. Cement and other materials will be added.

One of the workmen, Leroy Tingle, stated that they were not waiting on the relevant authorities to step in but were finding a solution to their issues.

"The rain fell on Tuesday and took away the bridge. It's the second time we are rebuilding it because the original bridge was washed away during Beryl and we did build it back. So yesterday (Sunday) about 40 of us decide to start rebuilding. We are the ones feeling it so we have to make ourselves comfortable," he said.

"We have to go all around one place that them call ABC (Amity Hall) but that is lonely and can be dangerous. Just recently a dead body was thrown on the road and everybody drive pass and see it. People all steal cow and kill dem and leave dem inside right on the road so people fraid of that road," he added.

As he played his part in the bridge construction, Steadman Brass said what was a simple walk can now take as much as 30 minutes. He said the heavy rains and the destruction of the bridge have hit the pockets of the farmers hard.

"Nuff a dem couldn't go to dem farm because when the rain fall, the water level reach to dem chest. Before the bridge wash away, it would take dem like two three minutes to get to dem farm but now dem have to go around the long road and it's not everybody who have a drive, so it hard all over," Brass said.

Andre Francis chimed in that the residents of Bushy Park have always been a tight bunch, so there were no second thoughts when it came to joining hands.

"People help each other because today (yesterday) mechanics, taxi drivers, the women, and everybody just come out and help. We not waiting on anyone at all. There is a man who live here who lend us his backhoe to use and all give us material as well. This is how we live," Francis said.