SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth – One woman was confirmed dead as residents of St Elizabeth picked up the pieces yesterday in the aftermath of Hurricane Dean which sideswiped the parish, wreaking havoc, particularly in the southern half.

Schoolteacher Dawn Miller-Wilson, 48, of Top Hill, died at hospital Monday morning after flying debris from a neighbour’s dismantled roof smashed through her sitting room window to hit her in the left side of the chest. Miller-Wilson’s husband, Avis Wilson, said his wife was using newspaper to block water that was seeping through the window when the piece of wood, said to be part of a roof’s box eve, exploded through the glass into her chest.

Blocked roads and the inability to get through to emergency numbers at the height of the storm at 8:30 Sunday night meant Miller-Wilson only got to hospital early Monday morning.

There were no official estimates yesterday, but a drive-through tour of Southern St Elizabeth Monday and yesterday confirmed reports that hundreds of homes, businesses and schools had sustained roof damage, ranging from serious to catastrophic. Throughout Southern St Elizabeth, there were signs of damaged, unstable and fallen utility poles and lines.

It appeared yesterday that communities atop the Santa Cruz Mountains and on its Southern slopes were hardest hit.

These include Malvern and adjoining districts, Potsdam, Top Hill, Southfield, Junction and Flaggerman. But there was also extensive damage in a range of low-lying and lowland districts throughout Southwest and South-East St Elizabeth.

True to the spirit of self-reliance, many residents were busy re-roofing their homes over the last two days. In Malvern, the 116-year-old police station and courthouse were destroyed as hurricane force winds removed the top floor of the two-storey building. Police personnel were operating out of the small petty session courthouse yesterday.

Twenty-six year-old barber Cleon Fagan escaped with cuts, bruises and pain all over his body after being buried under the rubble as the police station fell. Ironically, Fagan had come to his barber shop next door to the station to take refuge after feeling unsafe in his own home, which later fell in the storm. It took Fagan several hours to dig himself out of the rubble with the help of a piece of steel rod that had also fallen on him.

Schools and colleges in Malvern sustained extensive damage. Heather Murray, principal of Hampton School for Girls, estimated damage to classrooms, the IT lab, chapel and music room in excess of $30 million – much the same as was the case with Hurricane Ivan three years ago. There was also considerable damage at neighbouring Bethlehem Teachers’ College, particularly the roof.

Meanwhile, three miles away at Munro, one of the island’s leading boarding schools for boys, principal Branford Gayle estimated damage – including replacement cost – at close to $8 million. The school’s library, which was re-roofed and restocked after Ivan at a cost of $3 million, again lost its roof along with books and computers that were stored there.

Ironically, parish capital Black River, which would have been among the communities closest to the eye of the storm as it brushed Jamaica’s south coast, escaped with minor damage. A visit to the Black River Hospital suggested that the institution, which was extensively damaged by Ivan, was untouched this time around. Alwyn Miller, St Elizabeth’s parish manager for health, confirmed that there was only “minor damage” and a breach of the sea wall, which protects the hospital.

“Our main concern is to get back water, light and telephone service,” Miller told the Observer Monday.

Since the passage of Hurricane Dean, the Black River Hospital has been operating on an electricity generator and tank-stored water.