Broken boards and shattered dreams
Beryl leaves uncertain future in St Elizabeth
Published:Sunday | July 14, 2024 | 12:11 AMRochelle Clayton - Staff Reporter
The Wright sisters in Parottee, St Elizabeth – Monique and Runece – are faced with an unclear future about how they will rebound from the impact of Hurricane Beryl, the brutal Category 4 storm that inflicted untold damage on Jamaica’s south coast during its passage on July 3.
The sisters are business partners in several ventures, including operating a shop, raising animals for meat, and fishing. However, Beryl has left them with nothing, and they now face the daunting question of how to care for their children. Monique has a six-year-old son, and Runece has children ages three and 10 years old.
“Every fish pot at sea is gone, and the chicken coop is gone. That’s how we make our living,” Monique said, revealing that they lost approximately 120 broiler chickens.
Additionally, they lost 10 pigs and two goats during the storm. Their home-based grocery shop has been reduced to broken boards and shattered dreams. Monique emphasised that they had emptied their bank accounts to invest in fishing, agriculture, and entrepreneurship.
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Floyd Green, told the nation last week that preliminary reports suggest that Jamaica sustained more than $1 billion in damage to its agriculture sector as a result of Hurricane Beryl. Green said that the southern parishes, namely Clarendon, Manchester, and St Elizabeth bore the brunt of the blow from Hurricane Beryl.
The Wright sisters can relate to the scale of the devastation. They reside on a property with six board dwellings, occupied by close family members. Two of these houses were also destroyed during the hurricane. Despite the devastating loss, and the lack of electricity and running water, Monique stressed that their children would be the most affected by Hurricane Beryl’s aftermath.
“All I know is that they are not going to school any time soon. We made a living from our shop, and now all our liquor is broken up in there,” Monique lamented.
Runece echoed this sentiment, stating that her children may miss the start of the upcoming school year in September as she lacks the resources for back-to-school shopping.
“All our businesses are destroyed, so we have no income. School might have to go on pause,” said Monique. “My shop refrigerator is under the boards, and my foodstuff is all gone,” Runece added, noting that despite their efforts to protect their property, the storm’s damage was unavoidable.
Beryl, the first Category 4 hurricane in June, intensified to Category 5 status before eventually weakening. However, this was not before the monster storm, which was the earliest ever recorded Category 4 hurricane, slammed Carriacou, The Cayman Islands, Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Jamaica. It has been blamed for at least nine deaths in the United States of America and 11 in the Caribbean. Up to Saturday, millions of people in the Houston area of Texas in the United States of America were without power thanks to the storm.
In St Elizabeth, since Hurricane Beryl struck on July 3, the family has struggled without electricity and potable water. An electric pole nearby was downed by the storm, and electrical wires litter their yard. The yard was submerged in water during The Sunday Gleaner’s visit, forcing the sisters to create an alternative route to greet the news team. Without running water, they now use water from the nearby sea to flush their toilets and conserve their limited potable water supply.
“We know that’s not good for the toilets, but we can’t do any better,” Runece said.
Blaine Jarrett, senior vice-president for energy delivery at the Jamaica Public Service (JPS), said that efforts are under way to restore power and water supply in St Elizabeth. The light and power company said it could take a month before power is restored to the entire parish.
Jarrett stressed that St Elizabeth has taken a massive hit during the hurricane and the approximately 257 damaged electric poles tell the story.
“We had extensive damage to our infrastructure in terms of the distribution network, and we also have extensive damage to the transmission lines that bring power into St Elizabeth,” Jarrett said.
He said that deliberate efforts are being made to turn the lights on in major towns to support commerce.
“We do understand the pain. We are pulling out all the stops, and we are resolute that we will restore your supply in the shortest possible time,” Jarrett said.