FALMOUTH, Trelawny — With roofs from nearby buildings crumbling all around him on King Street during the passage of Hurricane Melissa last Tuesday, Douglas “I-Ron” Green survived unscathed beneath a sheet of zinc that now serves as his only shelter.

“Mi hear di building dem a pop down. Di breeze so powerful — it come in like a hammer. It lift up di tings dem and a shake dem so,” recalled the dreadlocked Green as he spoke with the Jamaica Observer from the spot where he rode out the storm.

“One a the time mi say to miself, ‘Christ Almighty God, give I and I a ease mek I and I can feel betta’. Mi never fret, mi just a watch it tear down the church, a tear down the buildings. It rip up the church — carry all di zinc come dash down in front a mi,” added Green, a furniture maker who marked his 72nd birthday on Monday.

According to Green, his survival was due to the low structure of his dwelling, located on the premises where his previous house was destroyed years ago.

“If it did high up, it woulda blow me away. But because me low, it just pass over it. Mi get little wet up but mi never mek it trouble me. Afterwards, some people pass and tell mi fi mind mi ketch cold. By that time mi done come out, walk round, and get warm inside mi body,” said Green.

He admitted that he received repeated warnings to evacuate before Melissa struck Jamaica but he refused to do so because he feared losing sheets of lumber he had bought to build furniture for a customer.

“Plenty people warn mi fi leave, but mi couldn’t go. Mi have some board here — that’s why mi never move. In fact, mi see a boy come about four o’clock di following morning [Wednesday] say somebody a run him down. When mi look, mi nuh see nobody,” recalled Green.

“The board dem value round $50,000 and mi never want nobody tief dem. If dem gone, a mi would haffi buy dem back, and dat woulda stay pon mi head. I had to stay right here because a here mi do mi work. Mi will send go machine shop fi di man who use di machine and show dem wah fi cut,” added Green, whose squalid living conditions are compounded by his limited mobility caused by a diabetic ulcer on his right foot and severe arthritis in both knees.

“Di arthritis mek mi can’t walk, and plus di diabetic ulcer. Mi haffi beg people fi buy anything mi want. Mi can’t walk from August. Can’t go machine shop fi cut up board or nutten. Mi beg people money, and a restaurant near to me give me dinner sometimes. Tastee’s help mi too,” Green told the Observer.

He explained that although doctors have recommended amputating his leg, he is reluctant as he believes in the medication and dressings provided by the hospital.

“Mi never decide fi cut it off. The doctor too quick to disarm mi. As him see mi him want disarm me. One time them carry mi go theatre, and when mi wake up on the bed, them start tell mi say them did plan fi cut it right here,” he said, pointing to the bandaged section just below his knee.

“Mi still nuh decide fi cut it off because di dressing a work. Mi see improvement. One a di thing mi tell di doctor, if it get worse, dem haffi tek it off. But if it a get better, mi nah mek them tek it off,” he said firmly.

Douglas “I-Ron” Green’s makeshift dwelling on King Street in Falmouth, Trelawny (Photo: Horace Hines)