Mud here, mud there, mud everywhere in Cave valley St Ann which was buried under about 15 feet of water up to three days after Hurricane Ivan struck. (Photos: Flemmings Photo Studio)

Cave Valley, St Ann - Life is slowly returning to normal in Cave Valley, St Ann, but who can forget the pictures of the entire community under water? There had been floods in the area before, but never like this.

It took three days for the roughly 15 feet of murky water from the Cave and Pedro rivers to recede. Hurricane Ivan's powerful wind and rain had pushed the water towards the centre of North east St Ann, leaving behind thick brown mud, lots of it.

For grocer Yvonne Davis, her four children and three grand-children, it was an unforgettable experience. One phrase sprang to mind when she returned, for the first time last Tuesday, to the site of the two-storey buildings that had been their home and grocery store - total devastation.

This pile of garbage-filled mud in front of Prestige Bar, Restaurant and Hardware was typical of what was left of the streets of Cave valley after the flood waters receded.

"It's awful, I couldn't believe when I saw it," said Davis, who is in her 50s.
"My Lord!" she exclaimed before starting to list her losses when asked about the damage. "Furniture, every grocery, mi likkle money, everything gone, clothes - nothing for the children; we have no clothes at all," she lamented.

Everything in their four-bedroom house was soaked. Some pieces of furniture were smashed. Only a few bottled items could be salvaged from the grocery store. The receding waters left mud up to six inches high on some sections of the road, forcing residents to wade through the muck and mire to get close enough to assess the damage Ivan had wrought.
It was hard to believe their lives had changed so completely within a few days.

"We woke up at about 10 to eight Saturday morning," Davis said. "When we looked at the gully (running from behind the house to an open lot across the road, via a culvert) there was a little water over there. About 15 minutes later, the water started rising. Within another 15 minutes it was all over the community. It rose so fast."
Sensing imminent danger, she hollered for the children - aged between six months and 24 years - and by the time they were out of the building the ground floor was covered with water.

Prime Minister P J Patterson toured the area last week to get a first-hand view of the damage.

They went to a neighbour's home some distance away. That house, just 30 metres from the town square, was on higher ground but the water was already at the gate and rising. They had to get out.
"About 12 (midnight) we looked across the road (now flooded) and saw a little boat, one man with a little paddle," Davis said with a laugh as she remembered the sight, "and we started making noise and he came across and took us to the shelter at Clarksonville."

By 2:30 Sunday morning, water had reached the second floor of her home.
"The water was so bad, it had waves like sea," Davis said.
She left the shelter for the first time last Tuesday to see what damage had been done to her home. Not knowing what she would find, she left the younger children behind.

"We're cleaning up," she told the Observer. "I was just telling somebody I don't know where to start or what to do. I don't know where we gwine get money," said the distraught woman.
Her top priority, for now, is a new place to call home. Being flooded out once, she said, was once too often.

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