Landslide at Jack’s property closes road at Ratho Mill

Heavy rains during the week and a fresh landslide at businessman Alex Jack’s retaining wall at Ratho Mill have forced the Ministry of Transport and Works to close the Ratho Mill route until further notice.{{more}}

In a public announcement on SVGTV last Wednesday evening, the Ministry of Transport and Works asked the general public to note: “Due to harmful debris falling in the road from heavy rain, the road to Ratho Mill will be closed from August 12th until further notice.”

The public has been requested to use the Sugar Mill Inn road instead.

This recent landslide has heightened speculation about whether what remains of the wall on the Jack premises will hold during this hurricane season.

On Wednesday morning, passersby noted with alarm a mound of dirt in the road in the vicinity of the wall. This latest slippage may have been triggered by heavy rains earlier this week, which according to the Meteorological Office, measured 2.87 inches or 73.1 millimeters between Monday evening and Tuesday.

On Friday, September 19th, 2008, 67-year-old Patricia Jack-Bowman tragically lost her life when a huge section of the retaining wall broke and buried her car. One undeniable contributor to the tragedy was the eight inches of rain that was recorded over a 48 hour period from 2:30 a.m. Thursday, September 18th, 2009, to Saturday, September 20th, 2009. The rain was caused by the passing of a tropical wave, which interacted with a trough system.

When contacted at about midday Wednesday, Chief Engineer Brent Bailey explained that Wednesday’s landslide is a separate issue from the wall.

“They are two separate issues,” said Bailey.

He noted that the slippage occurred at the adjacent exposed embankment.

Bailey stated that there has been no discernable movement from the wall.

He told SEARCHLIGHT that officers from his department had been instructed to visit the wall and once he had been briefed, he would speak to the public about any course of action.

However, by Wednesday evening there were reports of another landslide in the same area, as well as falling debris. SEARCHLIGHT was unable to reach Bailey or Howie Prince, Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO), for an update on the situation.

A conclusion of the Coroner’s Inquest into Bowman-Jack’s death can come as early as Tuesday, September 1, 2009.

The inquest had been expected to continue on Friday, June 26th, 2009, at the Serious Offences Court. However, when all parties arrived, they were told by Chief Magistrate Sonya Young that the inquest had to be adjourned as a juror had been hospitalized and was recovering following surgery at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital.

At the time, Young related that court legislation dictates that the case cannot continue with the absence of a juror.

The Coroner’s Inquest, which started on May 25th, 2009, has heard evidence from 10 witnesses so far. When it continues on September 1, 2009, Trinidadian Civil Engineer Kerrin Burgess will be cross examined by counsel, and the investigating officer in the case will also give evidence.

Last year, when the wall collapsed and filled the highway with tons of rubble, a cleanup operation was launched by NEMO. At around 2:45 p.m., what began as a cleanup exercise turned into a search and rescue operation when it was learnt that a vehicle may have been trapped in the debris.

Just before 8p.m. that evening, a mangled Nissan Pulsar car (PN39) owned by Jack-Bowman, was removed from the pile.

The car was taken to the Police Narcotics Base, where Jack-Bowman’s lifeless body was cut from the compressed car.