Billions to rebuild St Bess
Tales of woe at St Elizabeth MC meeting
Published:Friday | July 12, 2024 | 12:09 AMAdrian Frater/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Councillors and state agencies at Thursday’s meeting of the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation (StEMC) painted a dismal picture of an estimated multibillion-dollar damage caused by Hurricane Beryl last week.
Black River Mayor Richard Solomon said while the financial toll is still being tabulated, no sector of the Breadbasket Parish’s economic base was spared.
“We are still crunching the figures, but I can tell you the agricultural sector was a total devastation,” said Solomon, who also lost a section of his roof to Beryl. “The business sector, the tourist sector – devastation. When I went and we looked and did the assessment on the southern section, where we have the tourist industry, an area like Jack Sprat, totally demolished.”
Solomon said the parish, which was worst affected by Beryl, will need a lot of help to recover.
“As it is, it is a bit early to put a dollar figure on the damage, but it is going to run into billions, based on my own assessment and the preliminary assessments of the various agencies,” he added.
While some councillors were not pleased with how the Jamaica Public Service (JPS), the National Works Agency (NWA), and the National Water Commission (NWC) responded to the disaster, Solomon said he has no intention to get into a public squabble with the agencies.
Instead, he said, he is seeking to partner with them in the restoration exercise.
Councillor Christopher Williams of the Santa Cruz division thinks the time has come for the JPS, a private company, and the NWA, a state agency, to start sending representatives to the StEMC meetings.
“These two important agencies are critical to disaster management and should be attending our meetings and be participating in our planing to address situations like the one we had with Beryl,” said Williams, whose views were roundly endorsed by other councillors.
Williams also called on the JPS to prioritise the restoration of electricity to water pumping stations across the parish, noting that non-functional pumps meant no water for residents. He also called on the NWC to ensure that the water in wells and water shops are properly treated, to ensure safe consumption.
Like other residents across the parish, firefighters, who, along with police, served as first responders, also suffered personal losses during the hurricane.
According to Assistant Superintendent Mark Edwards of the St Elizabeth division of the Jamaica Fire Brigade, seven firefighters lost their roofs.
Edwards, whose team was kept busy clearing roadways and assisting people to get to the hospital, was full of praise for the parish’s business community, which donated three chainsaws that proved critical in clearing several blocked roads.
According to Mayor Solomon, even emergency shelters that were examined and passed fit to house persons during the hurricane took a battering.
“Seven of the shelters were damaged but, thankfully, no injuries were reported,” said Solomon. “Some of the shelters are still up and in operation, as our EOC (Emergency Operation Centre) is ongoing. At present, we are still housing some 98 persons in these shelters.”
Despite the challenges, Solomon was full of praise for the residents, saying the resilience they have shown in helping to clear roads and assisting each other has given him the belief that support will not be short in putting the parish on a firm path to recovery.