Mom, daughter find refuge in kitchen after Beryl ruin

Sixty-eight-year-old Janet Sinclair, who faces a hearing impairment, partial blindness, and speech challenges, and her daughter Alvernia Johnson-Rhoden are grateful that their lives were spared despite Hurricane Beryl’s onslaught in Portland Cottage, Clarendon.

They huddled at a relative’s home in the community to weather the July 3 storm and emerged later to witness the widespread destruction.

Johnson-Rhoden recalled that on the morning after the hurricane, she went to inspect her mother’s home, which is located further down the street in the flood-prone coastal community.

She discovered that the three-bedroom residence had been flattened, resulting in the loss of all of Sinclair’s possessions.

In an interview with The Gleaner last Thursday, Johnson-Rhoden explained that as a result, she took her mother into her home. They now live in the kitchen, which has been temporarily converted into a multifunctional living area after it suffered the least damage from the July 3 storm.

“When mi come back and peep in and see say the kitchen safe, mi say, ‘Yes! Thank you, Jesus! Mi have somewhere fi stay,” she exclaimed, noting that they have to tread lightly in the crumbling structure.

“A just the kitchen save mi. A inna the kitchen mi deh wid mi mother[because] everything else gone. Mi have one bed weh one a di mattress thin, so a it mi dry and put inside the kitchen and a it we sleep on. Di stove in deh, di water barrel, di fridge in deh and mi just stay in deh,” Johnson-Rhoden detailed.

The roof of the home was ripped off by the hurricane’s powerful winds and even though she has covered the structure with tarpaulin, there are a few holes in it. Whenever it rains, the two are exposed to the elements and experience flooding.

Last Thursday, the swollen and unstable wood flooring bears evidence of the knee-high floodwaters which inundated the home.

“The greatest [thing] is that mi have somewhere a sleep because if mi never have somewhere fi sleep, a deh so mi woulda more worried and mi woulda deh a somebody place, and maybe them wouldn’t comfortable with mi [there], and then my mother nuh have nowhere again make it worse,” she said.

“Mi feel comfortable fi know say God ... lef mi with the kitchen, but mi have to be careful with the gas stove in deh,” she added.

The two now live from clothing baskets and old suitcases, where they have managed to put their clean clothes and other belongings that were preserved. Everything in the room has also been raised off the floor in case it rains.

A preliminary national assessment has revealed that 321 dwellings were destroyed by the hurricane. Clarendon accounts for 133 of those homes, with another 617 in the parish that were severely damaged and 493 with minor damage. This makes Clarendon the most affected parish, totalling 1,243 residences adversely affected.

“Mi a tell you the God truth. This place nuh easy,” Johnson-Rhoden said about Portland Cottage, where has been living for some 12 years.

Originally from St Mary, she said that she went to Portland Cottage with her husband.

Although the couple have separated, she remained in the community to ensure that her mother is cared for.

She expressed her immediate need for two beds and mattresses for her and her mother to sleep more comfortably.

DESIRE TO RELOCATE

But her true desire is to relocate from the area.

It is a dream shared by many other residents within the community as they voiced hope last week that the Government will assist them to relocate.

“If mi fi get a house right now, mi lef yah so. A since mi come here ... mi experience dem something here. When we deh a St Mary, yes, storm blow, but depends pon weh we deh, we nuh have no flood and dem place deh full a lot of trees, so windbreaker can take off a lot,” she added.

Her mother’s residence had previously been hammered by hurricanes Ivan and Dean.

It was rebuilt on both occasions using the same zinc and board since she could not afford new materials, which rendered it weaker each time.

Hurricane Ivan, a Category 4 system, struck the island in September 2004 and occasioned the displacement of some 12,000 persons and resulted in the deaths of 15 individuals. Hurricane Dean – also Category 4 – struck Jamaica in August 2007 and resulted in six deaths.

Sinclair’s son has been helping her pick up the pieces and has so far managed to start building a temporary one-room structure, but more materials are needed to finish the job.

“We a seek help for her to fix up back the house,” Johnson-Rhoden said, noting that her mother was never comfortable living in the area under those circumstances.

“She always a say she nuh comfortable and she cyah stay inna dis and breeze a come in on her. More time mi used to carry her down a my yard fi sleep,” she said.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com