FOR more than 40 years Maud Richards, her children, and grandchildren have lived on a cliff overlooking the Caribbean Sea in Manchioneal, Portland, fighting ferocious waves that often crash against the shoreline and repeatedly flood their home.

With nowhere else to go, the family members said they have learnt to adapt and overcome the challenges that come with every hurricane season, and this one — now eight days in — will be no different.

The 69-year-old Richards, who said she inherited her home from her parents who built it, recalls the many storms she has survived — from the massive Category Three Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 to Hurricane Beryl, which sideswiped the island last July, wreaking havoc on the south coast.

“Beryl wasn’t bad like Gilbert and Ivan and all of the other hurricanes that pass gone. Beryl only come and take off the housetop, and you can see my mattress on the housetop same way because it got wet. And inside my house right now the partition tear down because I have no income, no money, or anything to fix back the housetop; but it wasn’t bad,” she told the Jamaica Observer last Wednesday.

Richards shared that Hurricane Gilbert and other storms had completely destroyed the home and forced them to live in shelters for months, but they always rebuild, using the knowledge they gained from each disaster to recover.

Waves crash against the shoreline in Manchioneal, Portland on what residents say was a calm day at sea.

She pointed to other houses in the area that became empty and abandoned over the years with each hurricane or storm, and said many neighbours have left because they have other options. That, however, is not the case for her family.

“I don’t have anywhere else to go. I don’t have any choice, so I have to stay right here. It’s right here my mother and my father leave me, so I have no choice to go anywhere else. I don’t know anywhere apart from here, and nobody can take me away and move me because all I have to do [when hurricanes approach] is take away myself, and go to the shelter [then] come back,” she said.

“As long as the spot where the house is, is still there, and I can throw two sheet of zinc, I’m going to come back,” she insisted.

A fisherwoman by trade, Richards said she grew up around the rough seas; therefore, a little flooding can do nothing to take her away from the place she has called home for decades.

Maud Richards points to a mattress on her roof that was soaked when Hurricane Beryl took the zinc of the structure.

Iteen Kelly sits on a section of her house in Manchioneal, Portland as she shares her dream of providing a better life for her family.

“It’s a good, nice place. It’s comfortable and the breeze blow nice. It’s only one thing, and that is the hurricanes, but other than that I don’t have any problem,” she said.

With each destruction brought on by the storms Richards said she has rebuilt stronger and learned how to protect her house.

“If a hurricane comes we will batten down. We don’t put any back door or window on what we built… we try to arrange the building so that when the hurricane comes and the water comes it pass the house and go to the sides when the waves come high, and go over on the other side of the road,” Richards explained.

With the 2025 hurricane season under way, and three to five major hurricanes predicted, Richards said she is only preparing herself mentally for what might come.

“Once there is life there is hope. I only want to know that I have life. The yard can go, but I’m still alive. Hurricanes are Father God works, the Almighty works. I can’t do anything about it,” she told the Sunday Observer, adding that her only wish is for government assistance to make her home hurricane-proof and more conducive for living.

“I would like help to fix the roof and put up back the partitions. I just want to fix up the place and make it a little better,” she said.
However, her daughter, Iteen Kelly, has different dreams.

Kelly shared that she moved away from the area in her early 20s but had to return when her house was destroyed by fire. She said for months she lived in the small two-bedroom house with her mother, her five children, and her spouse, often sleeping on the veranda when the space felt too cramped. She said she applied for assistance to get a home, but was constantly denied.

A stay-at-home mother who hustles to make a living, she said it was mainly the income her partner brought in from his job as a fisherman that they used to build their first house and support the family. However, she said it flooded when Tropical Storm Grace slow-marched across the north coast in August 2021, and they had to rebuild further inland.

“We have to take what we get and stay right here until better come. Whenever the hurricanes come we know that we have to move. Sometimes we move go out by the shelter at Manchioneal All-Age School or any other church that can assist us,” Kelly told the Sunday Observer.

“If you have to fix this 100 times and live here you just have to do it,” she said. Kelly said that, unlike her mother, it is her desire to move away from the area, but she often gets frustrated with the tedious process to get help.

“If you are asking for assistance and they come right here and I show you exactly what happen, I don’t see why I have to go through a lot of details. It feel like they are putting me through a puzzle and I don’t like the puzzle. You see what’s happening already and see that, yes, I need somewhere to live, and you have me a drag me here and drag me there like you don’t see what happened,” she complained.

She acknowledged that the area is dangerous and said there have been a few times when they were not able to evacuate before a storm hit. This, she said, happened last year with Hurricane Beryl when they had suspected that the storm would not pass close to the island.

“We never relocated, so whatever we could’ve moved and shuffled together we did, and we stayed in one facility over our neighbour. We were glad that the water didn’t rise to reach [the house], it only passed behind and it didn’t linger for long, but the water level did rise,” Kelly said.

She shared that they again lost their roof, and appliances, such as their refrigerator, were destroyed.

She said the damage over the years has made it hard for her to provide for her children and she needs assistance.

“Right now is exam time, and I’m sitting here wondering how my little ones are going to go to school. I don’t know what we’re going to do. I just want better for my family,” Kelly said.

Her partner, Anthony Frank, said he is doing all he can to keep his family afloat. A fisherman for more than 30 years, he said he will be glued to the weather channels this hurricane season.

On Wednesday, as he watched the waves crash against the edge of the cliff, Frank described the weather as calm, as he shared that they have fought much harsher winds and waves.

“Right now, we are not really prepared because the season young, so we are not really thinking about any hurricanes, but further down we know we’re gonna have preparations depending on the severity of the storm,” said Frank.

“Almost all the time I come outside watching the water. I will put on my raincoat and come outside and watch the water and how it operate and manoeuvre, so I can know what to do if I’m supposed to take up my family and move, or stay put. I ride out the storm right through Beryl; I just stay outside and watch the water. I will do what I can to protect my family,” he said.