WITH memories of the devastation wreaked by hurricanes Ivan and Dean and Tropical Storm Gustav still fresh in their minds, residents of St Thomas and Portland braced for the worst from Tropical Storm Tomas, which passed close to that side of the island late last week.

As was the case with Ivan in 2004, Dean in 2007 and Gustav in 2008, the residents were dreading the experience of trying to pick up the pieces after Tomas’ passage.

And so for the first time some persons prepared for the anticipated onslaught like they had never done before.

“Bwoy, me did well prepared, but me did still think say all them time now we would have to be walking and looking for we zinc,” said Deloris Bent, a resident of Duhaney Pen, a community which sits almost on the edge of the sea in St Thomas.

She explained that no longer do residents take the warnings issued by the Meteorological Service and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) lightly, having lived through the nightmare of riding out storm surges in the seaside community.

“To tell you the truth, is the first some of us prepare so much but we don’t mind, we only glad it never come,” she told the Sunday Observer on Friday afternoon as she went about her usual business.

The day after the tropical storm warning was lifted, business was bustling in both parishes as farmers readied their produce, spared from the storm, for the usual weekend market.

For many this was unusual the day after a storm passed that close to the eastern end of the island.

Weather forecasters had expected that Tropical Storm Tomas would have dumped heavy rains on the eastern section of Jamaica and that the country would experience strong winds Thursday night into Friday morning.

But the erratic storm, that increased and decreased in strength a number of times on its slow march through the Caribbean Sea, passed by Jamaica before flooding Haiti as a category one hurricane Friday.

On Friday, fishermen who had removed their boats from the beach were getting ready to return them to the sea, and farmers were busy removing the sticks they had used to prop up banana and plantain trees. Others were seen removing concrete blocks used to hold zinc roofs firmly in place.

Although the storm did not hit Jamaica, residents said they are not sorry they prepared and would do so at the next mention of a threatening system.

Having watched all their possessions taken out to sea by storm surges and their entire roofs blown off by strong winds in the past, they are adamant that never again will they be caught off guard.

“In the last storm we boat mash up and we lose everything and all now nobody no help we replace them, so we nah leave nothing to chance,” said a fisherman from Leith Hall in St Thomas who gave his name only as Telly.

He told the Sunday Observer that his colleagues in that fishing village prepared much more than they ever did before.

“But although we prepare and it never come we well ‘over-glad’,” he said beaming.

According to Telly, when the parish takes a hit from storms the sea usually covers the road, getting dangerously close to the only area they have to secure their boats.

“If it did come you would see debris pile this high and it would take days and weeks before anybody come to clear it,” he said, raising his hands over his head to illustrate.

He explained that it was very expensive to replace fibre boats as they cost as much as $438,000 for a relatively small one and more than $300,000 for the engine.

Another fisherman, who gave his name only as Tony, said although he had to painstakingly lug his boat out of harm’s way to the other side of the road he did not regret having done so.

“When storm come the right way the whole ah the main road here so a sea and what you don’t lose to the sea people just pass through and take what them want,” Tony said.

“So me no regret preparing, and from them say storm a come me will always prepare because me nah mek it catch me off guard,” he added.

Although the waves were lashing angrily against the shoreline when the Sunday Observer visited, seaside dwellers in communities like Boston, Fair Prospect, Sandshore and Manchioneal in Portland said they also secured their properties and prepared as best as they could, although the usual telltale sign that the sea would wreak havoc was not present.

“When the storm ah come the sea usually get wicked, but this time we never see the sea rising so we know it wasn’t going to bother we,” said George Escoe.

But despite this, he was on full alert and ready to move at a moment’s notice.

His neighbour, Oneil Benjamin, agreed that they were able to tell from looking at the sea that the storm would not pass close by.

“We old people know how to look for signs in the sea and we can tell from those signs how bad it is going to be,” he said.

It was a similar story in Sandshore, a community which sits almost at the edge of the sea and which was severely damaged during the passage of Ivan, Dean and Gustav.

While some persons have abandoned their homes which now sit empty, others who have nowhere else to go said the only preparation they know was to run when the sea started invading their homes.

Richard Derby still has not been able to replace the roof of his house which was damaged by Ivan, Dean and Gustav.

On Thursday, all he could do was secure important items while keeping an all-night vigil for any signal that the sea was about to come in.

“We are not taking any chance,” he said.

He explained that some residents of the seaside community even went to shelters from Thursday in anticipation of a big hit.

With no hope of being relocated anytime soon, as was promised by the authorities, Derby said he is hoping to be able to get some help from ODPEM to eventually replace his zinc roof with concrete.

“With the concrete it will flood, but at least we would be able to move back in quicker afterwards,” he said.

In nearby Manchioneal where the sea took over the town during Dean, the fisherfolk also left nothing to chance, hoisting their boats out of harm’s way and securing their beachfront shacks.

They, too, said they could tell from looking at the sea that the storm was not going to hit Jamaica. However, they were not willing to leave anything to chance, given the harsh lessons learnt over the years.

“We prepare because we know how the place stay, so the only thing we never do this time is to pull down the buildings along the beach,” explained Beverly Anderson.

And with many residents yet to recover from Dean’s onslaught three years ago, they were more than relieved Tomas did not hit.

“Bwoy, me glad it no come so till, because we in the heart of it,” said Andrew Lewis.

“And even though it never come, if we hear tomorrow morning say another one ah come we going to prepare because we can’t afford to keep losing we things,” he added.

Farmers also took precaution to secure crops as best as they could.

“You think a little plantain and banana me kotch, all from yesterday,” said Sylvin Brown, a farmer from Fair Prospect.

Brown, who lives on a hill, said he had never been affected by storm surges but was always badly affected by the wind.

He lost four banana trees on Thursday, although Tomas delivered only a light gush of wind throughout the parish.

Noting that previous weather systems have completely devastated his farm, Brown said if Tomas had hit as expected he would have lost a lot more.

“In the last storm me entire plantain field flatten, and so me mek sure me go kotch them up as best as me could this time around,” he said.