Life for the Derby family was just returning to normal after their sea front house in Sandshore, Portland was destroyed by storm surges from Hurricane Dean last August. They had recovered what they could and repaired a section of the dwelling to make it habitable for the family of five.

Yesterday, there was not much for the Derbys to salvage as heavy winds from Tropical Storm Gustav, which lashed the island, late last week, destroyed all they had.

Oblivious to the devastation around her, this child plays on the floor of what served as a house in Sandshore, Portland before it collapsed on its elderly occupant during the passage of Tropical Storm Gustav on Thursday night. (Photos: Karl McLarty)

"I am very depressed and I just want to move from here because every year is the same thing," said Cleon Derby.

Last year his mother, Maureen, was there to help pick up the pieces, but this time, with her being abroad, the teenaged Derby seemed unsure of his next move.

Himself, his father, two brothers and sister were all staying with a relative, with no idea when they would be back in a home of their own.

He is to attend teachers college next month, but even that seems uncertain now.

"I really don't know what is going to happen," he told the Sunday Observer yesterday as he put a television set out to dry.

Three months ago when the Observer re-visited the Derbys home, his mother expressed concerns that another hurricane could wipe out their house, but said they had nowhere else to go, having lived there for more than 20 years.

Then, her seven-year-old son said he was praying to God that another hurricane would never come. Unfortunately, his prayers were not answered.

Yesterday, he told the Sunday Observer he was upset his home was destroyed again.

"I am so mad that my house got destroyed and now my brother wants to give away my cats because we can't stay here," he said.

All across eastern Jamaica, uprooted trees and downed utility poles, mounds of eroded soil and flattened vegetation where rivers eroded their banks told the story of the wrath Gustav unleashed.

Flattened homes and residents rummaging through rubble for bits and pieces of their belongings completed the picture of devastation in sections of St Mary, Portland and St Thomas.

For many, it was deja vu having lost everything last August when Dean wreaked havoc in that parish.

Then, it was the angry waves from the sea which destroyed property. This time, the wind did unimaginable damage as residents said they underestimated the power of a tropical storm.

"Because them say it was a storm we didn't take it that seriously," said Catherine Maxwell, another resident of Sandshore.

However, there was not much they could have done, as the many board structures were no match for the heavy winds which damaged almost every house in the community.

Some persons lost roofs and they were luckier than their neighbours whose entire structures were flattened.
"Everything mash up inna Dean, and see it come back again," Maxwell said.

Like some others, she did not take the storm warnings seriously until it was almost too late.

"Is when me see the breeze me haffi run out with me two children (ages three and six) to seek shelter over one house with slab roof and a zinc [sheet] pass close to me head when me running," she said.

One elderly lady narrowly escaped death when her board house collapsed around her and she was pinned for hours beneath a door.

Her grandson, Barrington Fowler, who lives with her, said they lost everything.

"The bed, fridge, television, stove, table and chairs, everything mash up," he said, even as he rummaged through the rubble to salvage a few things.

He did not know where or how to start over.

All throughout the community the stories were similar as no one was left unscathed.

Some said the effects of Gustav were worse than Hurricane Dean as this time they lost everything.

"After Dean, me was able to come back into my house come sleep. Now, me no have no house," said one woman.
Her 72-year-old neighbour, Prince Bryan, said he didn't even save a sheet of zinc. His entire house was flattened and he was staying at a shelter.

Colin Bryan, a resident of Kensington in Portland, another community severely hit by Gustav, said all 14 acres of his farm were wiped out, his roof blown away and a huge utility pole fell on his shop.

"Is in me shop me haffi sleep although the post drop down pon it because the whole a me house mash up," he said. "A we get the whole of it," he said, pointing to the Portland hills where very few trees were left standing.

Packed in hamper on his donkey "faithful" were the few ground provision he managed to salvage from the fields.

Over in St Thomas, many communities were devastated. However, some of the most vulnerable, like Duhaney Pen, which was almost wiped out from storm surges associated with Hurricane Dean, withstood Gustav's heavy breeze.

Yesterday, the residents breathed a sigh of relief that they had been spared, since many had not yet repaired houses destroyed by Dean.

This time, however, many heeded the warnings and evacuated the community when the police came on Thursday evening.

Senior citizens Herman Stewart and Evelyn Sterling were among those who reluctantly evacuated their home.

"We lock up the house and go when the police come because we never know what would happen," said Stewart.

Initially they had resisted leaving for fear their house would be burglarised like it was during Dean.

For now they are safe, and so the couple say they have no immediate plans to relocate from their dangerous sea front home.

"She no want to leave because over here she have a standpipe right at the gate and if she go somewhere else she going to have to carry water uphill," Stewart said.

Meanwhile, at Temple Hall in upper St Andrew, the river washed out a huge section of the road, reducing it to single lane traffic.

In Broadgate, St Mary, two houses precariously perched under the road, at the edge of the river, were also washed away, with the occupants barely escaping.

The Georgia Bridge, which links the Highgate community to Junction, was also washed away.

Angry residents blamed the builders of the North Coast Highway, who they said weakened the bridge's structure during sand mining.

"Them undermine the bridge too much cause all the material weh build the highway come out of here," said Ewart Bryce, pointing to a huge mound of stones which, he alleged, the company removed from the river.

He said the bridge withstood many other floodings without even the least bit of damage, until now.

"This bridge older than me, and me a 60 years old and nothing never happen to it before now," he said.

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