GoodHeart|Facing the fury

O’Neil Robinson and a few of his close pals braved Hurricane Beryl’s fierce winds and heavy rain in their southern St Elizabeth community of Mountainside late on Wednesday. Their goal was to clear fallen trees blocking the way to his mother’s house in another district after she called to tell him that her roof had been blown away.

The group only managed to get to the Mountainside Assembly of God Church, not too far from Robinson’s home, where I and two Gleaner colleagues covering the hurricane in the parish sought refuge in the churchyard after being trapped by blocked roads on either side.

With the roof of the church proving no match for the ferocious winds in the dark of night, we remained inside our vehicle for nearly three hours, worried that assistance might not arrive until after the hurricane had passed, certainly not before daylight.

Realising his machete was insufficient to clear the path, hindered by the thick bark of trees, including a familiar guava tree blocking the road, Robinson abandoned his attempt to rescue his mother, who was, at the time, without sections of her roofing.

Instead, he extended an invitation to the Gleaner team to shelter inside his family home for the night instead of facing the elements in the pitch-dark churchyard.

Now able to recharge our devices, we could then make contact with family and colleagues, who had been frantically trying to reach us.

“I have never seen anything like this,” Robinson said of Category-4 Hurricane Beryl.

His neighbours were in agreement that the tempest would linger in their minds for a long time.

During our stay, we were offered rooms, with mint tea and biscuits to provide comfort as we waited out the night.

Deeply worried about his mother, Robinson wasted no time at daybreak to get to her as some of the roadways were now being cleared of trees and debris.

Even while gripped by despair and uncertainty, the parishioners in St Elizabeth, who were among the hardest hit by the hurricane’s passing on Wednesday, were quick to lend a helping hand.

Hours before our Mountainside encounter, five police officers from the Lacovia Police Station braved strong winds to rescue our news team from the horrors of being trapped along Bamboo Avenue – the popular ‘Holland Bamboo’ stretch.

The officers wielded machetes to clear fallen bamboo obstructing our vehicle from exiting the two-and-a-half-mile canopy of towering and menacing bamboo.

A path was cleared, and both our vehicles squeezed through a dirt track, and we made our escape up a makeshift road and into the Holland Hills.

There, we were met with more blockage from fallen trees, which the police team and residents of the area then chopped through to clear a path.

Without rain gear at the time, they were all soaked by the time they were done.

From Lacovia to Mountainside, through the hills and valleys, The Gleaner witnessed the devastating impact of Hurricane Beryl on the ‘Breadbasket’ parish. Downed utility poles and power lines, uprooted trees, displaced livestock and destruction of farmlands vividly portrayed the grim aftermath of the second named storm in this hurricane season, which forecasters believe will be very active.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com