Resilience amid ruin

WESTERN BUREAU:

Since Hurricane Beryl swept by last week, it has been common to witness people throughout Hanover parish coming together in large numbers, armed with tools, to clear roads and lend a helping hand wherever needed.

With at least one hurricane-related fatality in the parish, the devastation has been widespread. From fallen trees and dislodged roofs to flattened homes, blocked roads and downed utility poles, residents have slowly started to pick up the pieces.

Twenty-six-year-old Kayon Sterling of Beach Road in Green Island died after a tree fell on her house during the hurricane last Wednesday.

Aware that teams from the National Works Agency, tasked with the majority of road clearing and repair, would soon reach deep rural communities, residents undertook the effort to make their areas accessible. This included clearing blocked passageways, even if only allowing single-lane traffic in some spots.

“I am doing this out of the goodness of my heart as people still have to move about and there might be emergencies that have to be dealt with as light, water and even the telephone system [have] gone [down],” Marcus Johnson told The Gleaner after taking a break from using a chainsaw to a section of the Jericho to Kew Bridge roadway.

“As you can see is a group of us, some come from Claremont, some Jericho, and two from as far as Cascade, and we all going to make all the districts in these parts accessible,” Johnson stated.

Since Wednesday night, with all utility systems down throughout the parish and numerous roads blocked, life has become challenging for many, particularly those lacking the convenience of a back-up generator.

Hotel infrastructure and private homes suffered various degrees of damage. Farmers lost crops and livestock, while several fisherfolk said they lost fish pots at sea.

“One thing I am glad about is that there is not much loss of life,” one female resident of Orange Bay told The Gleaner on Saturday while clearing a road of fallen trees and garbage disposal.

Acting chairman of the Hanover Municipal Corporation, Andria Dehaney-Grant, told The Gleaner that several of the parish’s 55 shelters were activated last week, although she was not able to give the exact numbers or the number of occupants in those shelters.

“Several of them had to be opened, especially in the areas where persons lost their roofs and in some cases their whole house,” she stated.

“I know that in areas like Green Island, Maryland, Jericho, and Pondside, among others, there was extensive damage to houses, people suffered greatly, especially in the district of Claremont,” she said.

She expressed condolence to the family and friends of the young lady who lost her life, describing the situation as very unfortunate.

bryan.miller@gleanerjm.com