STRESS!

This has been a popular word in Toco since Saturday’s collapse of the Balandra bridge. It was used again yesterday as scores of residents and visitors to the east coast expressed frustration at the speed at which the authorities were working to replace the 40-year-old structure, which finally gave way when saddled with the weight of a 50-tonne crane Saturday afternoon.

There was stress for those living in Toco, who have been unable to cross over with their vehicles, making their owners’ reunion with the rest of the country very difficult.

There was stress for Toco’s weekend visitors, some of whom had to wade through waist high waters to get to the other side because ’we had no choice’, some of them leaving their vehicles behind because they had to get to work in other parts of the country today.

There was stress for the Junior Sammy Group, who were called in to try and repair the entire mess. It was a process that was complicated by heavy rainfall, soft earth and un-cooperative partners who they said did not appreciate the gravity of the situation.

Yesterday, however, at least the promised Bailey bridge was on site. When the Express left yesterday evening, plans were still afoot for its installation so that today would not be as nightmarish as over the weekend.

When the Express returned to the area earlier yesterday, it was a huge job site as private contractors, Ministry of Works personnel and Sangre Grande Regional Corporation workers worked feverishly to bring relief and head off a potentially charged situation.

About a quarter mile from the broken bridge on the road heading to Toco, the police had blocked access, only allowing contractor’s vehicles and their equipment, the Regiment, emergency personnel and the media through.

One seemingly overworked constable had the unenviable task of informing motorists that they could not pass, but took the time to hear each and every explanation why they should. If persons’ reasons for being there were valid, they were grudgingly allowed in with strict instructions not to block the road.

One elderly driver pleaded with a police officer, ’Sir, I know how the situation is but I have to pass ... I have to get some items across to my family.’

He added that he had recently undergone surgery and could not walk the quarter mile to the fallen bridge site where he would meet his relatives.

’I really hope they finish this thing by today (yesterday), things could get really bad up here if they don’t,’ a woman said.

Two exhausted-looking female University of the West Indies students were seen trudging along the Toco Main Road, shoes in hand. Masika Bentley and Denise Lee-Kams said they got to Toco on Friday and were trapped following the bridge collapse. Both spent Saturday night in Toco. Lee-Kams stayed with relatives while Bentley had to request lodging.

Lee-Kams told the Express, ’We had to walk through some waist-high muddy water to get here and someone meeting us on the other side.’

Despite their brief ordeal they seemed upbeat enough.

Some were not so forgiving.

One man from Rio Claro walked his family through the water as the maxi-taxi scheduled to pick them up and take them back to Rio Claro could wait no longer.

’Is real pressure. I can’t get my car across but they (his family) have to get to work on Monday so we had no choice but to wade across,’ he said.

’Look at them,’ he said, pointing to their wet clothes, ’this thing real bad.’

He added, ’I on vacation right now, so ah going back across and will come over with the car when the bridge put up.’

A man with a pirogue conducted a makeshift ’ferry service’ across the river, but he gave priority to families with small children, the elderly and the ill; the healthy and strong had to wait.

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management also came in for criticism, as many affected persons argued that they should have been on site to coordinate things, since this event could be classified as a disaster.

One senior official from the Junior Sammy Group, who did not want his name mentioned, spoke of blinding rain through which they had to bring in a huge 350-tonne all-terrain telescopic crane, which is to be used to help remove the remnants of the fallen bridge out of the river and then to help with the installation of the Bailey bridge.

The crane that fell into the river had already been plucked out the water and placed on the bank.

He said his personnel had been on site since 3 p.m. on Saturday, assessed the situation and contacted their headquarters specifying what equipment would be needed to remedy the situation. He said they had been working all Saturday night, some of them not setting foot in their own homes since they got there.

Besides rain, the Junior Sammy official also spoke of people leaving their cars parked on the road, which prevented some of their trucks from getting through as well as the breakdown of equipment, not their own, which hampered the recovery process.

Looking up as he spoke, the man said, ’I praying it don’t rain again though, because it wouldn’t be easy.’