Go-Jamaica Weather Watch

Francine Black, Staff Reporter

Several residents who had sought escape from the wrath of Hurricane Dean at provided shelters were today displeased with the conditions they turned up to find.

Photo by Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer: Cynthia Smith and her grandson try remain calm ease despite knowing that Hurricane Dean was about to hit Jamaica. Ms. Smith was one of 62 persons sheltering at the Easington Primary School in St. Thomas.  

The Gleaner news team visited sections of the St. Thomas, St. Catherine and Clarendon where the residents had sought refuge from the storm.

Norma Sewell, shelter manager at the Easington Primary School in St. Thomas, where about 62 persons had been staying since Saturday, said she needed more food and medication for children. “We brought some things but it is not enough. We need food and we need like Children’s Panadol and other medication like that for the children,” she said.

She added that she did not have a raincoat or water boots to go outside when necessary. People at the shelter came from Sun Valley, Spring Garden and Easington.

Over at the G.C. Foster College in Spanish Town, St. Catherine,  residents turned up to find unsecured windows, windows without panes and broken doors on classrooms where they were supposed to stay. In addition shelter manager, Winsome Keane-Dawes, said the bathrooms were filthy and unfit for use.

Over at the Portland Cottage Primary, in Clarendon, Inez Williams, the shelter manager said persons were arriving faster than expected and they had already surpassed the number of residents expected. The shelter, which can hold 250 persons had 226 persons when the news team visited although the shelter manager expected 220 persons.

David Dixon, shelter manager for the Bustamante High School in Lionel Town, Clarendon, said over 100 persons were at the shelter. He said that while the high school was large enough to accommodate a large number of persons, he could not manage alone. 

Leighton Williams, Gleaner Staff Reporter

Muriel McCarthy and her cousin Rachel Taylor left nothing to chance on Sunday night when she and her cousin moved into the National Arena, St. Andrew as they prepared for Hurricane Dean.

Muriel who said she was in her 70’s sat in her wheelchair and watched as several children kicked a tennis ball and shouted.

“I live with my cousin and where I am is not so safe in Port Royal and since they told us to come here I came with my cousin who lives with me,” she said.

Her cousin was lying on a cot sleeping, huddled in a corner to keep warm.

“Mi an’ her a di same age an’ is only the two of us so we moved in here,” said Muriel.

“So far it all right,” she  continued. “We’ve been here since Saturday night and it has been okay. Right now I’m a bit worried about where we live but I know the neighbours will look after it. We just leave because it wasn’t safe for just the two of us being there alone.”

Photo by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer: Muriel McCarthy and her cousin Rachel Taylor (background) in the hurricane shelter at the National Arena, St. Andrew. 

They were not the only family who sought shelter in the National Arena.  Cancer patient Patricia Riley said she, her male friend and two children came to the National Arena because her home was not safe.

“I live off Windward Road and because I’m not so well and the house have a leak I decided to come here to be safe. My son lives nearby so he will give an eye,” she said cuddling her daughter.

Other residents in the centre came from areas such as Yallahs, Bull Bay and other areas around Kingston.

“Our area (Bull Bay) is flood prone so we wanted to be safe and as a result wi come here because mi caan tek di flood,” said one evacuee.

Meanwhile, members of the Red Cross who were monitoring the shelter said up to midday yesterday 91 persons had taken refuge there and they were preparing for more. The Red Cross was unwilling to say how much persons the National Arena could hold but that their supplies were sufficent.

Feedback: leighton.williams@gleanerjm.com

Sajoune Rose, Gleaner Writer

Despite Jamaica being affected by at least four hurricanes in the last three years, many persons are still did not heeding evacuation warnings issued this time around.

Photo by Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer: Portmore HEART/NTA shelter in St. Catherine. This man was one of three men there at the shelter when The Gleaner arrived. He complained of being hungry.

Out of a approximately 3,000 residents in Port Royal, only 10 persons heeded the evacuation warnings and boarded one of the eleven buses sent by the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) between Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon. The evacuees were mainly elderly persons.

“You ever hear nutten happen to Port Royal?” asked one resident. “Them always sensationalise Port Royal and after the hurricane nutten no happen.”

He recalled the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan where some persons evacuated and went to shelters but returned to find their homes safe and secure, while they endured harsh conditions at the shelter. They said the people were treated “badly.” “It still fresh in their memories that’s why a lot of persons not leaving,” said Rohan.

“Right now, Port Royal is on solid ground so we not going anywhere,” said Weston, one resident who remained in the flood prone community.
 
Resident of Portmore in St. Catherine, which has several vulnerable communities, resisted desperate pleas to evacuate and move to the designated shelters.

While massive preparations took place all over the island in many areas designated as centres in preparation for the effects of Hurricane Dean three willing residents of Portmore who heeded the warnings to evacuate their communities turned up at one centre to be greeted with a large empty room.

“I opened this centre from 7:30 this morning and now 1 p.m. and up until nothing is here,” said shelter manager Trevor Gayle.

He lamented the situation saying that if only three persons were there and nothing was in place for them, then what would happen when more persons came in.

However Mayor of Portmore, George Lee said that more supplied should have arrived by midday but said that authorities were guaging their response based on how many people were arriving at the shelter.

Mr. Gayle however did not agree: “If you don’t protect the little one, how are you going to deal with the masses?” he questioned.

On a visit to the Rae Town fishing beach, many persons, most fishermen and vendors were seen in their one-room dwellings. They say that they cannot abandon their belongings, which cost thousands of dollars.

George Henry, a fish vendor who has occupied one of the dwellings on the beach for the last 20 years said that he couldn’t abandon his place because someone has to stay and safeguard the items other fisherfolks who had left.

“We can’t abandon everything altogether. Someone has to give some form of oversight,” he said. However, he said that his home, at 14 Fisheries Road in Kingston, is not really safe either. He said that it experienced Hurricane Gilbert and recently Ivan but now he doesn’t feel that he is safe in that structure.

“That house pass through two hurricanes with hol heap a leakings and neither the state nor fishery do nutten fi help me still,” he said.

Mr. Lee, however, repeated the plea for a law to be enacted to ensure mandatory evacuation out of flood-prone areas like Portmore.

After the passage of Hurricane Ivan in September 2004,  the Government indicated its intention to implement a mandatory evacuation order for certain communities with the approach of a storm or hurricane.

Daraine Luton, Gleaner Staff Reporter

The eye of Hurricane Dean is passing just off the coast of Kingston but the city is taking a pounding from the strong winds and rains associated with the system.

Zinc roofs are flying and many signs and trees have been flattened as the powerful category four hurricane unleashes its fury.

Photo by Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer: hurricane damage in Crossroads, St. Andrew. 

Exposed and left at its mercy are scores of homeless, many of whom hug the piazzas of establishments hoping to be spared from Dangerous Dean.

Many interest groups had said that a helping hand would have been extended to these vulnerable persons. But as the system neared early Sunday afternoon it became clear that these less fortunate would have been made to fight for survival on their own.

Just before nightfall this evening whilst Dean’s fury hit Kingston city, all the homeless across the Corporate Area could do was to sit and wait. Wait to live; wait to die.

Feedback:  daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com

Mark Beckford, Staff Reporter

The residents of 89 August Town Road in St. Andrew are accusing the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona of releasing sewage into the August Town area which has flooded the lane.

When the Gleaner team arrived on the scene some residents were seen feverishly filling sandbags, which they were using to block the mouth of the lane.

Photo by Ian Allen/Staff Photographer: Residents of 89 August Town Road in St. Andrew pack sandbags to prevent flooding in the area.

“Look here, look when it rain the sewage water from the University run pon the road, and it come down the lane and sometimes it go into the homes. It don’t have anywhere to run, so it come inna the lane.”

The residents are complaining that whenever it rains the water comes onto the lane and they are afraid because it poses a health problem.

“Every time it rain the faeces water run inna de lane, and we complain to the authorities but dem no response fi we dem no response fi local.”

UWI Deputy Principal, Joseph Pereira however says that he had not heard about the complaints before he was questioned by The Gleaner.

“I have not received any complaints and as far as I know the (sewage) plant is working.”

Pereira also said that when the institution releases any sewage it is released into a gully at the back of August Town.

“The plant is in good working condition and the sewage which is released is fully treated and it poses no health risk,” he said.

However he added that he would be checking once the hurricane is over to see if what the residents say is true.

Feedback: mark.beckford@gleanerjm.com

Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer

As Jamaica’s south east coast began feeling the first effects of Hurricane Dean this morning, a small group of Jamaicans were already having a far worse experience.

Urgent calls started coming in to the mainland from a small group of men and women marooned on the Pedro Cays, more than 50 miles to the South, and facing the brunt of the assault from the category four hurricane.

Opposition Leader Bruce Golding, who received one of the calls for help, told The Gleaner that he subsequently contacted the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) and was told to convey to the group the army’s permission to break into its Coast Guard building on Middle Cay (one of three that make up the Pedro Cays chain) and take shelter there.

Sean Taylor, vice-chairman of the Jamaica Fishermen’s Cooperative, said that calls started coming in from as early as nine o’clock in the morning from the marooned group.

“They started calling relatives and friends saying things were getting more difficult than they expected” he said.

An obviously upset Taylor said that this need not have happened because all persons on the cays were put on notice by the JDF a week ago to leave the cays ahead of the onset of the hurricane.

“We are always adamant that whenever the warning is posted by the officials you must heed it and make the necessary preparations. The Coast Guard commander should forcefully remove them. They should see to it that they leave” he said.

Ironically, Mr. Taylor said, some of those who remained on the cays for this hurricane also ignored similar warning to leave during the passage of Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and narrowly escaped death on that occasion.

This practice of ignoring such dire warnings was a matter of great concern, said Mr. Golding.

“In the future we may need to be more forceful; we perhaps need to enact legislation to give the Coast Guard authority to lift people from the cays even when they are reluctant to leave,” he said.

It is a position that is shared by Dean Peart, the minister responsible for disaster preparation and response.

The necessary legislation to permit mandatory evacuation in such circumstances had been drafted and was now awaiting Cabinet consideration, he said.

The same challenges were being encountered in several of the most vulnerable communities along the south coast, he said, with residents refusing to leave their homes and go to designated shelters.

Responding to the self-inflicted plight of the Pedro Cays group, Mr. Peart said “This is a regular thing. Who is going to send a helicopter at this time to take them home? When you see a category five hurricane approaching you must move! They are blasted mad!” the minister said, with characteristic frankness.

Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer

Almost two years after work started on the Great Pond canal in Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth, the access way was finally opened early yesterday morning to drain excess water caused by Hurricane Dean, from the pond into the sea.

Stephen Shaw, communications manager at the National Works Agency (NWA) confirmed in an interview with The Gleaner that work crews had finally broken through from the canal into the pond at one end and into the sea at the other end.

This development eased somewhat the fears of residents of Great Bay and Calabash Bay, whose homes were flooded on several occasions in recent years as the pond overflowed its banks.

It was during the passage of Hurricane Wilma in October 2005 that the greatest damage was done with the flood waters forcing more than a dozen families to abandon their homes for several weeks.

The NWA and other state agencies decided then that canals would have to be dug, linking the pond to the sea, thereby serving as a means of draining excess water away from the community into the sea.

Work started shortly thereafter on the first of the planned canals, less than a mile long, close to the Calabash Bay beach, but proceeded at a snails pace, leaving vulnerable residents in great fear.

As Hurricane Dean approached, there were concerns that, even after many months of lobbying, the canal would not be ready for the expected heavy rainfall.

Mr. Shaw conceded that work had not yet been completed but expressed optimism that the makeshift preparations would serve to avert disaster.

Barbara Ellington, Gleaner Lifestyle Editor

Hurricane Dean did not deter a group of teenaged boys from Eleven Miles in St. Thomas, playing a game of scrimmage, first in a field and later in the road where few vehicles were passing at 10 a.m. this morning.

Signs of life going on as usual could be seen in the odd coconut vendor looking for a sale, men enjoying their favourite brew at one open bar, while others hurried to secure their property.

From St. Thomas to the airport road, in Kingston, gulls huddled on roof tops, goats gathered on church porches and the verandas of homes and dogs grouped close to their masters. It seemed the instinct of these animals were alerting them that the weather system was about to birth danger.

Photo by Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer: occupants of the shelter Easington Primary School, St. Thomas await the arrival of Hurricane Dean this morning. 
 
The shelter at Easington Primary School in St. Thomas had 62 persons there. All were in good spirits having passed Saturday night there but were in need of a few essentials such as raincoats, boots and mild medication.

Close to the sea, locals gathered to photograph the huge waves that came in at 20-second intervals. An onlooker remarks, “These are not as big as the ones that we saw during Hurricane Ivan.” When asked why be out if you are not part of the essential services, a member of the group tells The Gleaner, “Just for the fun of it.”

But it’s no fun for the scores of homeless people who lie on makeshift cardboard and plastic beds along the piazzas of Duke and Barry Streets. They seem oblivious to the peril just hours away.

The population on the parade in downtown Kingston was increased by a team of journalists from Reuters news agency and The New York Times. They captured the inactivity of downtown Kingston, deserted except for a blanket of garbage – fodder for the drains and the once glorious Kingston Harbour.

It was 11:15 a.m. and the wait continued… 

Feedback: barbara.ellington@gleanerjm.com

From the Met Service …

August 19, 2007 @ 5:00 a.m.

BULLETIN No. 13

*** HURRICANE DEAN PRESSING TOWARDS JAMAICAN WATERS… HURRICANE WARNING STILL IN EFFECT***

The Meteorological Service has maintained the HURRICANE WARNING for Jamaica as Hurricane Dean continues towards the island while moving south of Haiti. This means that dangerous effects of a hurricane are still expected to affect Jamaica within 24 hours.

At 4:00 a.m. the centre of Hurricane Dean was located near Latitude 16.6 degrees North, Longitude 73.4 degrees West. This is about 250 km (155 miles) south-southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, or 330 km (205 miles) east-southeast of Morant Point, Jamaica.

Dean is moving towards the west-northwest near 30 km/h (18 mph) and this general motion is expected to continue during the next 24 hours.

Maximum sustained winds remain near 230 km/h (145 mph), with higher gusts, making Dean a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Fluctuations in strength are likely to occur today. Hurricane force winds extend outward approximately 95 km (60 miles), while tropical storm force winds extend 335 km (205 miles) from the centre.

Satellite imagery indicates that spiral bands associated with the hurricane should shortly begin to spread across the island, starting with eastern parishes. Residents can expect increasing rainfall this morning along with gusty winds rapidly reaching tropical-storm strength. Severe flash-flooding and landslides are likely to occur across the country.

Based on the current official forecast track, the eye of Hurricane Dean is expected to begin moving over the waters just south of Jamaica early this afternoon and then follow a path adjacent to the coastline throughout the rest of the day. During this period, hurricane-force winds are likely to be experienced by most of the island, generating dangerous storm surges and battering waves along coastal areas of mainly southern parishes.

All interests should continue to monitor subsequent Releases from the Meteorological Service. The next Bulletin on Hurricane Dean will be issued at 8:00 a.m

DEAN’S COMING! Jamaica braces for hurricane hit
DEADLY AND dangerous Hurricane Dean has Jamaica in its firing line and predictions from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, are that the storm will hit Jamaica later this evening.

KSAC opens shelters
Twenty shelters in the Corporate Area have been opened by the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC), in light of the impending passage of Hurricane Dean that is expected tohit the island this afternoon.

Fishers come ashore
WESTERN BUREAU: As the island braces for Hurricane Dean, members of the fishing industry are reporting a 100 per cent state of readiness in the event of its passage. Stakeholders within the fishing industry have created a structured action plan to reduce the cost of damage.

Ministry urges farmers to exercise extreme caution
In light of the threat posed by Hurricane Dean, the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands is advising all animal owners to exercise extreme caution to safeguard human life and livestock.

‘Dean’ could postpone voting of security forces
If damage associated with dangerous category Four Hurricane Dean is catastrophic, the security forces may not vote on Tuesday as planned.

Jamaicans stranded in Cayman
Jamaicans hoping to return home from Grand Cayman before Hurricane Dean, which is expected to hit that island on Monday, will have to wait until the storm blows over because of the absence of available flights.