LANDSLIDE ON LADY YOUNG; COMMUTERS ADVISED TO SEEK ALTERNATIVE ROUTES

LANDSLIDE ON LADY YOUNG; COMMUTERS ADVISED TO SEEK ALTERNATE ROUTES

 

A landslide on the Lady Young Road, about half a mile from the Morvant Junction, has made the road impassable, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has confirmed. The landslide, which only recently occurred (within the hour), has cut off the flow of traffic just before the evening rush hour is due to start.

A spokesman from the Local Government told Newsday that a team from the San Juan Laventille Regional Corporation had been dispatched to clear the rubble and to conduct search and rescue activities.

The ministry said one vehicle was partially covered by rubble but the driver had been moved to safety.

Former Transport Minister Devant Maharaj was traveling along the Lady Young when the landslide happened, Maharaj said he "just escaped death," but he witnessed the landslide intercept a car he said belonged to former St Ann's East MP Joanne Thomas. He said he later took "a shaken" Thomas to a relative's home.

Maharaj's car was behind Thomas, he said, and his own had "narrowly escaped being covered by falling debris."

The Ministry also posted an update on its Facebook page stating that the driver of the vehicle caught in the landslide has been moved to safety. It is also advising motorists in the area to "exercise extreme caution."

A smaller landslide had occurred earlier in the day, the spokesman said, and while some material had fallen onto the carriageway, it was still passable. The recent rains, he added, had saturated the soil, so as fast as the Corporation had been clearing, material kept falling, until it ultimately manifested in this larger landslide.

This is a developing story