Hanover’s Chigwell wary of Matthew
CHIGWELL, Hanover — The people of flood-prone Chigwell in Hanover are hoping that they will be spared from the worst effects of Hurricane Matthew which is expected to impact the island as early as tonight.
“We are somewhat worried, because I know that if the storm comes it is going to cause a lot of damage. But at the same time we are hoping that, if it comes, it will never affect us badly,” said Patrick Wilson, who has been living in the farming community for more than three decades.
He said that since living there, sections of the community have experienced flooding and rising water on at least three occasions, forcing scores of residents to evacuate their homes.
“The last time we had flooding was six years ago, and a lot of houses were submerged for almost six months by the rising waters, so we are really hoping that this time around Hurricane Matthew will not affect us badly,” he told the Jamaica Observer when the newspaper visited Chigwell yesterday.
Up to late yesterday, Hurricane Matthew was said to be a Category Four system, which could start impacting the island sometime tonight.
Wilson admitted, however, that despite “the seriousness of the hurricane” he is yet to start making “adequate preparations”.
“I don’t start making preparations as yet although the hurricane looks serious, but we are watching the situation and in case the water starts to rise we will move to elsewhere in the community,” said Wilson, who occupies a concrete structure along with his wife, two children, and a grandson.
“The water nuh just come up on us like that; it takes a couple of days after the heavy rains for it to start rising, so we have time to prepare. The last time it took a few days after the storm before my house was almost covered with water.”
Vinora Longshaw, 70, another area resident, said she too is hoping that the community will be spared the wrath of the hurricane.
She told the Sunday Observer that the heavy rain brought on by Tropical Storm Nicole in September 2010 left her house under water for many months, adding that her agricultural crops and livestock were ravaged by the storm.
She expressed fear that her crops now under cultivation in the community could be wiped out by Hurricane Matthew.
“Right now, if the storm comes and the water starts to rise in the community, I am going to lose all of my cultivation, like the last time when the place was flooded for months,” she pointed out.
Her son Adrian Longshaw, who lives a few metres away, said he too lost crops, livestock and household items during that storm.
He said that, despite a number of promises made by the Government to compensate the area residents for their loss, nothing has been done.
Other residents say, too, that a promise to relocate them to Government-owned lands in the adjoining community of Old Pen, also in Hanover, following Tropical Storm Nicole, has not materialised.
The Chigwell residents claimed after the passage of Tropical Storm Nicole that they suffered millions of dollars worth of losses in crops and livestock, as the water rose to as much as 60 feet in sections of the community.