Councillor for the Manchioneal division, Alston Hunter, said dozens of houses along the coastal area, including Kensington and Dumfries, either lost roofs, were demolished, or inundated.

“It is total devastation everywhere,” he said. “Hundreds of residents are now crammed into disaster shelters here in east Portland, and the inclement weather continues to make situations even worse.”

Yesterday Councillor Hunter told The Gleaner that several landslides in Kensington had left that roadway leading into Manchioneal, impassable to vehicular traffic. He said that a team was dispatched to the area to assist with the clearing of trees.

“It is unlikely that residents will be able to recover from this devastation any time soon. We are awaiting the arrival of heavy-duty equipment to clear the blocked roadway, which might take some time,” said Hunter.

Approximately five disaster shelters are now opened in the Manchioneal area, which is presently occupying more than 250 residents.

In the meantime, The Gleaner tried valiantly to access the roadway leading into Manchioneal, but efforts were unsuccessful. Our news team was also left stranded near a gas station at Long Bay after wind and torrential rain made driving impossible

The Gleaner team in Long Bay, Portland, while stranded for a short period at an Esso gas station, witnessed a number of persons entering premises next door.

For 15 minutes, the report indicated, men, women and the elderly went in and out of the building, which had already lost its roof, leaving with disposable diapers, a variety of beverages in crates, furniture, other food items in black plastic bags, along with empty bottles.

The line of person entering the premises only ended when the store was emptied of its products.

Police have since been alerted and Constabulary Communications Liaison
Officer, Corporal Dwayne Campbell, said he was going to make contact with The Castle police to dispatch officers

Some of the beach-front properties have lost their roofs, light poles have been downed and even one commercial enterprise was not spared. TAt least one light post has been downed during the storm.

Thirty-foot storm surges pumping water onto the road way along with the high intensity of the wind sent vehicular and pedestrian traffic off the mainroad. Person have ben forced to seek shelter as Gustav took control of the area.

Conditions worsened with high winds this morning sometime between 4.15 and 4.45 a.m.

Sections of Bryan’s Bay in Portland seem to be receiving the worst of the weather.

The sea along the main road, which leads from Bryan’s Bay into Port Antonio has already overridden the retaining wall and is now dumping sand and debris along the road.

Motorists have been asked to take precautions in the area and have, in fact, been told to take an alternate route through Boundbrook Crescent.

The Manchioneal area of Portland also has a real problem, where at least two houses have lost sections of their roofs. There the sea has also overstepped its boundaries and is threatening to make flooding, which is already occurring worse.

Norwich Primary and Manchioneal All-Age School have already opened for the purposes of sheltering those most affected.

Nobody has been moved yet but as conditions worsen this is expected to happen. 90 per cent of shelters have been reported functional with shelter managers on high alert.

In the meantime, over in St Thomas, there have just been patches of rain and there have been no reports of damages.

Photo by Renae Simpson Reid: the main road in Long Bay, Portland which had to cleared of sand swept over it by Hurricane Dean on Sunday.

Photo by Renae Simpson Reid: clean-up work begins at the Chill-out restaurant in Long Bay, Portland following the passage of Hurricane Dean on Sunday.

Photo by Renae Simpson Reid: this was all that remained of the Tropical Paradise restaurant in Long Bay, Portland following the passage of Hurricane Dean on Sunday.

Photo by Renae Simpson Reid: … besides the sand, this boat was nearly brought all the way onto the main road in Long Bay, Portland by the impact of Hurricane Dean on Sunday

Hurricane Dean unleashed devastation on Portland, damaging dozens of houses, destroying livestock, and forcing many persons into disaster shelters.

The Manchioneal area was the scene for some of this category four hurricane’s fury. Within an hour after winds began to increase, 16 houses had already lost their roofs.

Even more scary than that was the ordeal personnel at the Manchioneal Police Station had to undergo, as they were left stranded after storm surges belted the tiny road between their office and the rest of Portland. Dozens of residents from Manchioneal were forced to evacuate to a shelter at the Manchioneal Primary School.

Other persons in that community, who had earlier ignored an appeal to evacuate, were forced to do so because of torrential rains and high winds.

Denise Louise, Parish coordinator of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), pointed out that relief supplies were distributed to all emergency shelters in the parish, as residents poured into the various shelters.

“We have distributed mattresses and other bedding equipment, flash lights, quantities of food, water and other supplies to the shelters,” said Louise.

“Shelter managers are presently manning the 80 emergency shelters, which were activated early yesterday after it became clear the threat posed by the hurricane was at hand,” added Louise.

Sections of Manchioneal and Long Bay are now impassable to vehicular traffic, as several trees fell, blocking the roadway leading from Priest Man’s River, extending to Manchioneal and beyond.

There were also reports that the Hector’s River main road is blocked.

In West Portland some residents of Swift River, Cascade, Hope Bay, Rock Hall, and St. Margaret’s Bay were also forced to evacuate homes and made their way to various government schools, which are being used as emergency shelters.

As conditions worsened the general feeling among residents is that their worst fear has been transformed into reality, as Hurricane Dean not only entered the shores of the island, but created widescale damage in every section of the parish.