Torrential rains on Thursday, April 29, 2021, caused a major landslide on the Barre de L’Isle Ridge. The disaster forced a single carriageway for vehicles traversing the main linkage for traffic to and from the west coast.
Hon. Guy Joseph, Minister of Economic Development, Housing, Urban Renewal, Transport and Civil Aviation, and parliamentary representative for Castries South-East where the landslide occurred, was present along with officials from the relevant ministry assessing the damage.
With the rain expected to continue for the next 3-4 days based on the weather report and the road being unstable and undermined, the Minister, noted that the thinking from officials is to close the road to vehicular traffic.
“The lighter traffic we may allow to go through until the remainder of the day,” the Minister informed The Voice, while lamenting that the safety of motorists was paramount to him.
The Minister conceded that addressing the Barre de L’Isle landslide is critical as we are quickly heading into the hurricane season.
According to the weather forecast, a mid to upper-level trough system together with an upper-level jet stream will continue to cause cloudiness, showers, and isolated thunderstorms over the Eastern Caribbean region during the next 24 hours.