FROME, Westmoreland — Classes are expected to resume at the Frome Technical High School on Monday, when flood victims from the Ricketts River community who had to seek shelter would have returned home.

It is hoped that classes will resume in time to accommodate 11th grade students who have to prepare for upcoming screen tests. But there is one woman in particular, mother of 12, Norma Saddoo, who does not have a house to return to.

Her house was completely destroyed when the heavy waters associated with Tropical Storm Lili rushed through the village. The floorboards are completely destroyed, the roof is in a deplorable condition and she is now being housed in the school’s auditorium.

Saddoo says that her immediate needs are a house and a bed. All her belongings were either soaked or destroyed.

On Wednesday a number of children could be seen playing, clothes hung on makeshift wires and there were people doing odd jobs like sweeping and preparing meals.

A tour of the shelter occupants’ flood- ravaged homes revealed yards and houses that have been transformed, in some cases, into piles of rubble.

Several houses still had the wires, ropes and chains that were used to secure them as the heavy waters battered them as heavy rains associated with Tropical Storm Lili drenched Jamaica.

But despite the destruction and personal losses suffered, O’Neil Gokhur, a young resident from the community, contended that it was the root of the flooding problem that needed to be addressed.

“Bed and food is not the solution,” he said. “It is one of two things, either the drains and rivers are properly cleaned or (the government) relocate the people.”

More than 200 people were housed at the Frome school on Monday, but by Wednesday a large portion of them had returned to their homes. Their common cry was the need for mattresses.