Great Wall Crushes Homes in Great Pond

Residents in Great Pond are left to wonder how they will pick up the pieces of their lives that are now stuck under the wall. The towering divide, erected by neighboring housing developers crashed onto houses on Martin Christie Street in St. Ann around 4 pm on Thursday. October 28.

Mickayla was at home on October 28, lying down with her baby as she would any other day. Deviating from her normal routine she got up with her daughter to help her cousins prepare chickens in the yard. Then not too long after that, she heard a major rumble coming from the wall towering her home.

The emotional damage weighs on Mickayla who says she has been traumatized by the incident, knowing she could have died in the collapse. The wall, which separates what is to become the Happy Cove Housing Scheme, from residents of Martin Christie Street in Great Pond came crashing. A tractor on the development site lost control and knocked the wall over on about 5 houses displacing an estimated 9 people. The damage was too much for Cherine Gordon and her family.

One of the developers Paul Green visited the residents after the incident and rented places for those who needed somewhere to stay. In discussions with Ocho Rios Councillor Michael Belnavis, Green also pledged to repair the damage.

The structural integrity of the wall before it collapsed was questioned, leaving many to wonder who approved its construction. Councilor Belnavis says the Roads and Works Department and the planning department of the parish council approved the structure. Belanvis says he will work with these departments to resolve this issue.

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