Nearly a month after Hurricane Melissa tore through western Jamaica, rising floodwaters in Chigwell and Old Pen in Hanover continue to swallow roads, farmlands and homes, forcing residents to use bamboo rafts to navigate what was once a drivable roadway.

When Observer Online visited on Friday, three men were seen paddling a raft across a stretch of murky water that now covers miles of the main access road connecting both communities.

For George Wilson, who has lived in Chigwell for 63 years, traversing the floodwaters, which he estimates to be “more than two light post deep”, has become a daily duty.

“It terrible. A more than two miles of water…You have a spring weh bust up underneath the ground over there so the water is coming up underneath it. So the water is not drawing, it’s coming up more since morning…since the hurricane,” Wilson said.

He now uses his raft to ferry residents between Chigwell and Old Pen.

“On a daily basis, mi carry over people on the raft…Who coming from Chigwell to Old Pen, we bring them across,” he continued.

Wilson makes multiple trips each day, never charging a fare but accepting whatever residents may offer in gratitude.

“It take we a long time to come across…Like how you see the wave going that way it hard fi come up the wave. But going down, because the wave is going down, it’s easier to go down. If you don’t know how to come up, you’ll lag up in a tree,” he explained.

Despite the challenges, the raft remains the only practical route, as the alternative is a long detour through the hills.

“If you want to go around the other way, you have to take the hills and it takes a long, long time to go around if you fi take the hills,” the raftman said.

Wilson expects the water to remain for months.

“Around February before this water draws cause when it draws, it take time to draw,” he said.

Sidoney Williams, who has lived in the area for 34 years, anticipates a similar timeline.

“Sometimes it deh yah all three months, four months before it move,” she said. “It not going down as mi see it. A come it deh come up…Every land weh sekkle water, when dem draw, is here so it comes. So you know seh New Market water a here so it come same way.”

Recalling the hurricane itself, Williams said the Category 5 storm devastated her family’s home when it struck the island on October 28.

“It was bad, bad, because a nuff water come in and mi son house tear down. All the mattress, the breeze take up the mattress and blow the boat like how you would a move it. It move everything, all the dresser come out of the house. Everything come down. A mussi only the fridge nuh move because the fridge have a little bit more weight. But everything pop off,” she said.

Her fields of renta yam, callaloo, okra, and corn were also wiped out.

She noted that a “freak storm” the following week brought heavy rain that worsened the flooding.

Flooding in the area is not an unusual event whenever there is heavy rain. Seventy-nine-year-old Vinora Longshaw said this is the third major event she has witnessed in her lifetime.

She recalled the historic floods of June 12, 1979, which she described as the worst she has ever seen. That flooding resulted in the death of 41 people, washed away houses, destroyed crops and damaged several infrastructure.

Longshaw also recalled stories her father shared about a massive flood in 1933. These events, she said, demonstrate that heavy sustained rainfall, rather than storms themselves, is what sends water surging into Chigwell.

“Is not storm bring this water. This water come whether storm or not. If the storm blow and then the rain not heavy, you nuh get it. But as long as the rain come heavy, all two night the rain will come, two night and a day, it send up plenty water,” Longshaw said.

Many of her neighbours have already evacuated their homes, now almost fully submerged. Longshaw, however, is holding her ground, watching the water edge closer to her property.

“This water is coming up… I’m used to the water. So, I just watch the water until it come. The last time mi leave out here, it deh actually on my step round there. I put some of my things on the house top. From mi know it, we never see it come fi cover the whole Chigwell,” Longshaw said.

George Wilson now uses his raft to ferry residents between the flooded communities of Chigwell and Old Pen in Hanover. (Photo: Gavin Jones)

George Wilson on his raft. (Photo: Gavin Jones)

Vinora Longshaw is keeping a close eye on the rising water as it edges closer to her property. (Photo: Gavin Jones)

This house in Chigwell, Hanover is nearly submerged in water. (Photo: Gavin Jones)

Several residents have evacuated their homes as the water continues to rise in Chigwell, Hanover post Hurricane Melissa. (Photo: Gavin Jones)

(Photo: Gavin Jones)

The new spring where water continues to rise in Old Pen, Hanover. (Photo: Gavin Jones)

(Photo: Gavin Jones)

(Photo: Gavin Jones)

(Photo: Gavin Jones)