Adelphi struggles with post-hurricane recovery
Infrastructure damage, power outages frustrate locals as losses continue to mount
Published:Tuesday | July 9, 2024 | 12:09 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Residents of Adelphi, St James, are lamenting infrastructure damage, power outages, spoiled food, and other ongoing challenges they face in the aftermath of the powerful Category 4 Hurricane Beryl.
Across the northwestern parish, recovery efforts continue amid utility outages, disrupted mobile networks, and impassable roads strewn with debris and fallen trees.
Wilford Thompson, a 64-year-old resident of Corner Lane in Adelphi, told The Gleaner that during the passage of the hurricane, an ackee tree fell on the roof of his verandah and has yet to be removed.
“This house now is near 20 years I live here. The ackee tree dropped on the housetop and popped down the verandah and took off some of the zinc, so mi nuh know how this is going to go ... . Mi just need some help to get some zinc to put on back on the house, because mi nuh have it right ya now,” Thompson lamented on Monday.
“It was only batten up we batten up di window dem. Ivan did blow on the house and damage it already, but I never got to fix it, and I had only fixed one of the rooms on it,” Thompson continued, referencing the 2004 hurricane.
“It was mi and my wife and our two kids staying in our other family house nearby, and the other house didn’t get any damage. We got back light on Sunday, so we have light now, but no water,” he added.
On the other hand, Rosalyn Duncan, who operates a wholesale a few minutes’ walk outside of the community square, complained of having to spend approximately $20,000 for gas to power a generator to maintain her business as she is without electricity.
“Nothing much happened with Beryl, but the problem is that the electricity went, and until now we nuh get it back, and I think is full time because it reach the garage up the road and it reach up at the Adelphi square. Is a generator mi haffi run, and it is costly, because the generator is doing one five-gallon of gas per day, which is $4,000 a day,” the exasperated Duncan explained.
“I’ve lost about three dozen cocoa bar chocolates, which is $20,000 worth of items,” Duncan added. “Also, as long as light isn’t here, we don’t have water, because they tie up the light with the water from the water pump’s end. ... From last week water did gone.”
SCALING DOWN
Cookshop operator Maria Paisley, whose business operates next to Duncan’s wholesale, had to scale down her operations since the storm’s passage.
“I came down and cooked Friday, and I only saw three people come inside here, so it is more than a loss that I am going through right here. I had to pack up everything and carry it home, and it was a good amount of money I lost, because the price of rice is raised, and I lost the chicken and all those things I cooked,” said Paisley. “God is so good that the freezer always keeps frozen, so nothing is spoiled. But if nothing is going on, it don’t make any sense I come and open up shop.”
Works have been ongoing to restore electricity and water in affected sections of St James, as well as to clear downed trees and power lines along the Irwin to Adelphi main road since Beryl’s passage. A detailed impact assessment concerning the storm’s effect on St James, along with an estimated cost of damages, is expected to be presented by the St James Municipal Corporation this week.