SEVERAL hurricane warnings from local forecasters last week were not enough to convince farmers of the Rio Grande Valley in Portland to prepare for Hurricane Matthew, which has since claimed the lives of over 1,000 people in neighbouring Haiti.

Matthew, which the experts said would have hit Jamaica last Monday, did not severely impact the island after several projections later showed Matthew moving away from Jamaica and closer to Haiti as it made its way over the Windward Passage.

“Me know it never did a come. First of all, I watch the leaves on the ‘trumpet’ tree and none of them turn over. Once the leaves turn white you know that there is a storm or one is coming,” small-scale farmer Bunny told the

Jamaica Observer North & East following the passage of the hurricane.

He added: “Secondly, all the fowl dem gone roost. Once common fowl gone roost, you know there is no breeze coming. I not even put a sheet a zinc over my window; I don’t even catch water because we know it not going rain. Years of experience teach you that. All the birds dem a fly and the John crow dem; no hurricane can come with those things happening.”

The 72-year-old said, however, that had the hurricane hit the island, it would still be business as usual for him.

“If it did come it just come — is nature,” the man who plants oranges, ginger, bananas, plantains, and pineapples said.

Bunny’s colleague Shelton Anderson also insisted that the signs were there to rule out the possibility of any storm.

“Mi never did a expect the hurricane fi come and mi glad it never come because if it did come, it would have mash down mi farm with mi banana dem and mi coconut,” Anderson, who has been farming for the last 20 years, said.

“From you see all of the bird dem same place you can tell,” he said.

Another farmer, who declined to give his name, suggested that authorities should not rely only on science or computer-generated models to determine the path of a storm.

“Government and weather people don’t know what dem doing.

“We a farmer [and] dem must link we, mek we tell dem when hurricane a come. You have to watch the movements of the animals; dem smart.

“If you see dem not moving, then you know seh not a thing going happen. Is years I doing this so take my advice. Mi go ’bout mi business same way. The only thing I never do is go market,” the farmer said.

Ninety-six-year-old retired farmer Eulahlee Campbell, who boasted about living through many storms, said that she made preparations despite having doubts about the threat of Hurricane Matthew to the island.

“Mi hear dem seh it coming and mi prepare, but I never expect it. Mi used to hurricane enuh; remember, I am 96. I live through Gilbert and all of dem,” the woman said.

“I’m not saying that dem shouldn’t warn us; I just think dem could have done better,” she said.