By Hurricane Beryl Sashana Small – Staff Reporter
A visibly frustrated Glenda Wright reluctantly opened the door to her two-bedroom home in Portland Cottage, Clarendon, later admitting that she thought the Sunday Gleaner team was from yet another “agency”, coming around to offer more empty promises to fix her damaged roof.
“Dem just tek mi picture and tek statement and tek di picture a di house,” she said just over a week ago, lamenting the fact that after all that, she never got any updates.
Her house, which sits just in front of Salt Pond – an area previously declared a ‘No Build Zone’ – had its roof torn off by Hurricane Beryl in July last year. Wright, who lives with her teenage daughter, had sought shelter elsewhere during the storm’s chaos, only to return to find their home in tatters, devastated by the Category 4 storm.
“All a di roof come off and gone. Mi haffi pick up some old zinc and fix up weh mi can fix up,” she said.
For the past year, Wright has been dealing with constant leaks as the patchwork of zinc sheets hasn’t held up the way she needed it to. Inside, a tarpaulin is draped over her bed to keep it dry whenever it rains.
“Everybody come and say dem a go help mi; there is no help. Mi nuh get no form a help,” she said.
A few metres away, Patrick Osbourne walks around what remains of his home of four years.
The three-bedroom structure has been reduced to one after its walls gave way during Hurricane Beryl. The storm also ripped off parts of the zinc roof.
Unable to make repairs himself, the 51-year-old unemployed man sought assistance from various non-governmental organisations that visited the community in the aftermath of the storm.
Osbourne said that while he received 11 sheets of zinc from charity organisation Food for the Poor, and a $50,000 grant at one point, that is not enough to fix the extensive damage to his home.
Currently, Osbourne is living in the only room of his house that the storm didn’t completely destroy, and he believes more assistance would help him better prepare for this hurricane season.
“Wi nuh really panic ‘bout it, because wi know seh when wi hear ‘bout it, wi find different shelter and evacuate from wi home, … but wi haffi prepare. Wi all prepare everytime wi hear seh a hurricane is coming,” he said.
Experts have projected a 60 per cent likelihood of an above-normal 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, forecasting between 13 and 19 named storms. Of those, six to 10 are expected to strengthen into hurricanes with winds of at least 74 miles per hour, including three to five major hurricanes reaching 111 mph or higher.
Meanwhile, in nearby Rocky Point, fisherman Darol Myrie has been unable to live in his childhood home for nearly a year. He explained that although hurricane straps were installed on his one-bedroom board house, they weren’t enough to keep the roof intact during Hurricane Beryl. Since then, he has been staying with his son next door, but the 51-year-old says that living arrangement is far from ideal.
“Mi have woman too. y’know, and mi cya live wid mi son and him woman and mi have woman. A idiot life dat, and mi a big man. Pickney have him pickney and mi all get grandpickney and di whole a wi bungle up deh suh, it nuh look good,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.
A fisherman since he was 14 years old, Myrie said his skill has allowed him to finance his three children’s tertiary education. Unfortunately, that came at the sacrifice of not being able to build a better house for himself.
Now, he is seeking help, charging that the aid being distributed in his community is being done along political lines, and as a result, he is yet to benefit.
“Nuff house top weh look better than mine fixed,” he said.
Promised help
Like Wright, Jennifer Watson in Rocky Point was promised help to repair her roof by various agencies that walked the community in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl. She is still waiting for it to materialise.
“As di rain set up, mi start fret, because once di rain start fall now, she (my daughter) haffi start shift di stuff dem and set tings to catch the water. And then now, after dat, wi haffi do the drying up and the mop up,” she said, sharing the ongoing struggle they have been facing for the past year.
Watson is nervous about the hurricane season, which began on June 1 and ends on November 30, worried that her home of over 20 years will be further damaged if she does not get the help to fix it.
“If a night and di rain start fall, my daughter gonna have a sleepless night because she haffi go keep monitoring the water and haffi set di tings fi ketch di water so she nuh have a lot of water removing from room to room,” she said.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, the Government rolled out several social assistance programmes to help affected citizens. This included cash grants for home repairs, with amounts determined by the extent of damage, as well as broader relief efforts through the Relief Emergency Assistance and Community Help (REACH) programme.
However, these efforts have exposed significant gaps which need to be addressed to boost the country’s response to future storms, including the need for a centralised database to track affected citizens and prevent aid duplication, as well as more investment in coastal protection.
The impact of
future storms
But it also highlighted gaps in the country’s response efforts against the impact of future storms. This included the need for a centralized database to track affected citizens and prevent duplication of aid, as well as increased investment in coastal protection.
Rowhan Blake, CEO of the Clarendon Municipal Corporation, told The Sunday Gleaner that Hurricane Beryl caused significant damage to homes in the coastal communities of Rocky Point, Mitchell Town, and Portland Cottage, which were the hardest-hit areas in the parish.
Blake said the municipality has worked hard to coordinate relief efforts to help residents recover.
“Through the International Organisation for Migration, Global Empowerment Mission and Food for the Poor, residents in these communities were assisted with roof and other structural repairs. In addition, individuals in Rocky Point whose homes were destroyed by hurricane Beryl have received newly constructed houses through the support of Food for the Poor and the Likkle But Tallawah Homes Initiative,” he said.
Nahum Archer, a resident of Rocky Point, was among those who received help from Food for the Poor to repair his house.
“Dem do a lot of roofs in the communities,” Archer said while expressing his gratitude to the organisation.
Blake also noted that, in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, 5,000 hurricane straps were distributed in Rocky Point to help strengthen housing resilience and reduce future storm damage. Cash grants were also provided, through the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, to those affected to cover urgent needs and repair costs.
The municipality is actively working to improve its disaster preparedness for the 2025 hurricane season by inspecting emergency shelters, reviewing the parish’s stormwater systems, sourcing emergency relief supplies, and training volunteers and other key stakeholders.
After Hurricane Ivan in 2004, certain parts of Portland Cottage were declared ‘No Build Zones’, and homes were relocated to higher ground in safer areas. Blake acknowledged, however, that enforcement continues to be an issue, with ongoing monitoring to ensure compliance. Where breaches occur, actions are taken in accordance with planning and building laws.
sashana.small@gleanerjm.com