It was raining rocks at Gracie Rock this morning. Residents of the small village at mile 21 on the Phillip Goldson Highway were startled when around 11:00 they heard a "boom" and then looked up at the sky and saw several big rocks being hurled at them from the nearby quarry. Fortunately no one was injured but the community center of Gracie Rock received some heavy damages.
National Aggregates Limited has been extracting building material at the site for many years. Most residents actually remember growing up to the inconvenience of feeling tremors every now and again. But this was the first time something of this magnitude has occurred.
We spoke to one resident who gave us an account of what she saw.
Voice of: Resident
"I was home with the kids and I was upstairs and the kids were downstairs and when I hear it, I feel the trembling at first and the after that I just see the blast and I tell the kids hurry run underneath the house bottom, because minutes after that I see stones started to drop. After the blast stones started to drop and I am watching them coming and I said God I hope none don't come by my house. But at the moment I hear 2 drop I get frighten and I tell the kids run underneath the house bottom."
Reporter
"How many kids you have?"
Voice of: Resident
"I had my niece and my nephew with me. I have 3, but all of them was not there. It was me, my niece and my nephew and my other daughter."
Reporter
"I understand a lot of kids frequent this area."
Voice of: Resident
"That's true. They are always on the field playing."
Reporter
"Is it the first time that something like this happened?"
Voice of: Resident
"Well first it happen like this. That is worse, yes, but otherwise from that you use to hear the stones drop way by the hill foot. But this time I don't know what happen for it to come all the way out here."
Reporter
"Tell me how residents feel at this moment. Do you feel afraid for their lives. For their kids' lives, because the projectiles are coming so close to the village?"
Voice of: Resident
"Yes, everybody is trembling. Everybody is frighten. Left kinda shock, but nothing else otherwise. Nobody no really want to say anything, because most of everyone's relative at the quarry working and then they might afraid that jeopardize the loved ones jobs and their income. So nobody really wanted to say anything. But this not anything to hide. These are things to bring out to have people know what is happening. Because suppose we were having a function right now and something happen, that could have been worse. It could have been someone's house."
Reporter
"It could have been somebody's life."
Voice of: Resident
"That's true. Because if this goes through this roof and of you notice inside have some thick metal, if that goes through that, our house is just board. What will happen? I remember back in the days when we were small, it never use to happen like this. People use to complain, yes, but just vibration and their clock drop off the wall or the TV drop off the stand - just the vibration, but these days you barely feel vibration. All you hear is just the big bam. I hope the boss know what they are doing and whosoever doing it know what they are doing. Life is out here pending."
It is a small community that lives behind the quarry but one that is full of many children.
According to the company the loss of life is the last thing anyone wants. That is why they have several protective measures: like sounding a siren 30 minutes before a blast and also blocking the roads before a blast. This time they say they followed all necessary procedures but this one got away.
The company says that over the years it has built a pyramid system whereby any projectiles from the blasts on at the bottom of the mountain gets rebounded by the top of the mountain. However, according to their information, the clay concentrate at the top of the mountain was too high, meaning that it was not strong enough to contain some of the projectiles. Those were the same ones that made it to the neighbouring community, which damaged the community center and caused panic.
The company says they have agreed to fix all damages and build some concrete reinforced bunkers to mitigate any other isolated incidents.
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