DESPITE restorative and preventative efforts, residents living near the shoreline in Annotto Bay, St Mary, who have weathered many storms over the years, say threats of erosion have left them unsure about their chances of remaining unscathed if a storm hits this hurricane season.
A recently completed $244-million project — spearheaded by Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) in collaboration with the World Bank — has addressed the 40-year-long issue of shoreline erosion along a 244-metre stretch of the Annotto Bay beach by placing sand and groynes to trap sand and break harsh waves. The beach nourishment extends 12 metres from the existing slope, and protects the main road leading to the town from erosion.
But, according to residents farther along the shoreline, little was done to safeguard their property and livelihoods, leaving them exposed.
While grateful for the initiative taken by the Government to safeguard a section of the town and protect the main road, some of the residents said a hurricane could see them losing their home.
With three to five major hurricanes predicted for the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, which started last week Sunday, four days in, while the Jamaica Observer team was walking in the area, Demar Brown was seen packing stones fished from the sea to protect his backyard from further erosion.
He complained that little was done through the $244-million project to protect many houses and businesses directly on the coastline.
“When they were building the stone wall [groynes] they should have started it from up the bridge [and] come down to the back of the houses. Nobody lives down there [where the coastal project took place]. It’s just the road they are protecting down there… They should have started where people are and the business places are…we a pay tax so is we them supposed to secure,” said Brown.
“If they had put it up here [closer to houses] we would be sure and secure and feel more 100 per cent during the hurricane season because we would have more land space than what we have now,” he added.
The young man said that after numerous promises that the matter would be addressed, he has taken matters into his own hands.
“When the sea bounce the backyard in a hurricane and push up, it’s bare sand over my yard. As the water touch the sand it gone, so I’m trying to use the stones and block the sea from the sand because with just the sand, as water touch it, it gone — even when is just rain. So, I’m using the stone to try and contain the yard because if the sand gone then my house gone,” the young man told the Sunday Observer.
Pointing to what is left of a coconut tree he said was once in his backyard, Brown said it died when harsh waves washed away the sand and exposed its roots. It now serves as a reminder of what will happen if he does not secure his home.
O’Neil Archie said he has lived near the shoreline for more than 50 years. He said while growing up, there was a beach at the back of his house, but it has slowly disappeared with each weather system or period of heavy rain.
“We have never migrated. Through Hurricane Gilbert and all of them that came we have never left our house because God has always blessed us that the house doesn’t get affected — just the sand go under the door. We even help people despite being on the sea, but this time we don’t have any choice.
“Any hurricane come this time, we have to move because we have nothing to cushion the water. The sea isn’t even extremely hard and when the wave break is up there so [close to his back door] it a come, so imagine when the storm gwaan,” Archie said.
He disclosed that his mother had built a sea wall behind their house eight years ago, but it has been eroded due to the harsh waves.
Admitting that Hurricane Beryl did not cause major damage in St Mary because it impacted the south coast when it skirted the island last July, Archie surmised that a more northern hurricane would cause significant damage.
“Them people here leave we fi the shark them eat we,” he lamented, adding that he is not sure how to prepare for the season.
“We just have to know that whenever an announcement is made that a hurricane is coming, we have to just exit the place — find somewhere [else] to go — and just hope that [when we return] after the hurricane it might not be that much damage,” he told the Sunday Observer.
At the official handing over ceremony for the coastal protection project, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness stated that the shoreline along the main road leading into Annotto Bay had to be protected because it is the main entrance into the town. He acknowledged that part two of the project is needed to further secure other residents at risk.
JSIF Managing Director Omar Sweeney said designs have already been completed to address the issue of erosion immediately adjoining the section of the shoreline that was recently restored, to the first bridge upon entering the town. He told the Sunday Observer that a budget application submitted last year is pending approval and that phase two of the project is expected to cost an estimated $1 billion.
While the project will not be completed this hurricane season, Sweeney stated that a third groyne placed in the area should provide some relief for the residents and businesses still at risk.
“We didn’t totally leave it naked and bare, we actually put a groyne at the top of our project because we knew there would be a lag to get the financing to complete, and so that intermediate measure is in the works. You’ll see it’s not as large as the other two groynes but it is there to sort of provide a little support to slow down the wave action, especially knowing that we were going into the hurricane season,” he said.
Another resident in Annotto Bay who did not share his name showed the Sunday Observer team a small groyne that was placed close to his backyard. He said that while it has helped to break some of the waves, more is needed to secure the area.
“Since they put it up, it kind of keep back the sea in a way. It gives us a little more distance from the yard space to the beach, as you can see, so it’s a good thing, but it would take us a little more to prevent the backyard from eating away further,” he said.
“In hurricane season the sound of the waves will have you a fret, because you feel like it a guh come over and move your house… Everything alright so far but them just need a couple more [groynes] going up the beach so we will be more secure and better off,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sweeney also addressed recent calls by People’s National Party caretaker for St Mary South Eastern, Christopher Brown, for an audit of the $244-million project. He said an audit was completed two months ago, with no significant findings.
“In fact, the auditor general did remark that the project exceeded expectations so there is no concern with spending. The reality, however, is that with coastal protection measures that we have to do, it’s quite expensive… You have to mine rocks, you have to truck rocks into the space, you have to carry in a lot of granular build and material and also work, not only just on the land side but you have to work on the seaside.
“Persons who would have observed the construction would have seen that the excavators and the equipment were actually in the sea, and so what happens is that when the project is finished, a lot of that would be covered up and not seen immediately in terms of some of the money that was spent because some of it is now covered and restored, and built the shoreline,” Sweeney explained.
The Sunday Observer team continued its way along the country’s shoreline, this time stopping in St Margaret’s Bay, Portland. Residents in this section of the island are not too worried about the hurricane season as they have learnt how to manoeuvre weather systems over the years.
Merlene Reynolds said her family has no plans to relocate.
“Normally, when the hurricane comes we will evacuate and go to a shelter or stay at a family member. We live here almost five to six years now [and] the hurricane season nuh gwaan bad more than just a little tree blow down, but nothing doesn’t really happen.
“The house doesn’t flood but the sea will come up close to the house,” she told the Sunday Observer.
She said, too, that her family usually packs downed trees behind their house and stuffs tyres to prevent the water from coming into their home.
Another resident in St Margaret’s Bay who experienced flooding over the years said she is hesitant to move because she does not have anywhere else to go.
“Sometimes we will go [to a] shelter and other times we stay and try to save the house. [Hurricane] Beryl last year never bad but if we get a harder hurricane that hit we more, then maybe the place a guh gone. But, I don’t have any choice so me a stay and hope for the best,” she said, adding that she will rebuild, if necessary.
At a National Disaster Risk Management Council meeting last week Wednesday, Meteorological Service of Jamaica Director Evan Thompson forecast three to five major hurricanes for the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, stating that projections indicate hurricanes could range from category three to five, with sustained wind speeds exceeding 177 kilometres (110 miles) per hour. He added that six to 10 hurricanes are predicted to form from 13 to 19 tropical storms.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness, addressing the issue of building codes across the island at the meeting, noted that the devastation brought by Hurricane Gilbert cemented in the minds of Jamaicans the importance of having secure housing structures, and many citizens have since moved from zinc to concrete slab roofs.
However, he said there still exists a significant portion of Jamaicans who live in disaster-prone areas that are typically affected by storms, hurricanes and flooding.
The prime minister noted that in jurisdictions in which individuals build on the shoreline, there are guidelines and provisions made for them to build on stilts. He urged the various entities to enforce building codes and conduct public education.
In the meantime, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Desmond McKenzie has assured citizens that the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management is fully equipped to respond should a hurricane hit the island. He said 900 shelters across the island have been inspected, and urged Jamaicans not to ignore hurricane advisories.
And Finance Minister Fayval Williams said the country has the financial resources — $130.6 billion — to respond to natural disasters.
“In the face of what we know to be increased intensity of weather-related events we would have been in a very bad place when Beryl struck if we had not implemented our National Natural Disaster Risk Financing Policy (NNDRFP)…It has many layers of what we call shock absorbers for the economy. Since then, we have increased our disaster coverage to ensure we have the financial flexibility to meet natural disasters,” she said
The NNDRFP currently offers $130.6 billion in coverage which can be accessed based on the severity of the disaster.
“For the higher-severity, low-frequency events such as hurricanes, we have to use insurance instruments such as the facility that we have with CRRF [Caribbean Resilient Recovery Facility], our Caribbean partner; and it says in times of disaster, or policy that is, start with what we can reallocate, what we can defer, what we can delay or cancel. And if that is not enough, go to the next layer, the Contingency Fund and the National Disaster Fund — this is $4.8 billion. Then you go to the National Natural Disaster Reserve Fund, that has $1 billion. Together, these two funds total $5.8 billion and are Jamaica’s own resources,” Williams said.
Additionally, the finance minister said there is another $6.5 billion accessible through two contingent credit arrangements with the country’s international partners for disaster coverage.