EIGHTY-ONE-YEAR-OLD Nulis Barnes, a resident of Newtown in Black River, St Elizabeth, was moved to tears during an interview with the Jamaica Observer on Thursday, as she recalled how she and her 83-year-old husband hid under a bed during the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

Black River was one of the most severely hit areas in Jamaica during the Category 5 hurricane which made landfall in late October. Melissa went down as one of the most powerful hurricanes ever formed, and the entire parish of St Elizabeth took a serious battering from it.

What pushed Barnes to the point of tears were memories of the couple fighting for survival while her elder sister, who was ailing for some time, was dying overseas.

“It’s one of the worst things to ever happen to me in my life. My grandson was watching [weather updates on] his phone all the way leading up to the arrival of the hurricane. When it was about to happen he said, ‘Grandma, get under the bed’. My husband and I went down. The rain started and [the water started] covering us while we were under the bed, so we had to slide out,” she said.

“At the same time, my sister died in England as well. She was ailing for a while. She was 83 years old. Her name was Ivorine Blackwood,” Barnes cried.

Now that Barnes and her husband have survived the deadly hurricane, the current mission is to fix their roof. That activity was in full swing when the Observer visited the family.

“My nephew in England offered to help me rebuild. I was a teacher and I saved what I could. We sent our son to university, and we didn’t have much left because he has two beautiful boys and we decided to send them off to school as well. Both of them graduated from The University of the West Indies. I helped them with the little money I had saved so I didn’t have much left to fix up back the house. We have received absolutely no assistance from anybody with building material. People come around and they give a little food stuff, and clothing, and so on. Thank God I was able to pack away some of my clothes in plastic bags,” she said.

She, however, has at her disposal the kind hearts of people like construction worker Travis Samuels. Samuels shared that, due to the storm, he has been heavily reducing the prices he charges for work.

“Now is a busy period for construction workers. Most of what we do is assist people with what [money] they have. We charge, but if they don’t really have it we [still] have to make sure they are good because they are our loyal clients,“ he said.

For many of Barnes’ neighbours who cannot afford to put their roofs back on at this time, they have been receiving assistance from humanitarian organisation Samaritan’s Purse.

One of the volunteers told the Observer that they have covered over 100 houses with tarpaulins within the past couple of weeks.

“We are just putting on tarpaulins for now to give people a temporary solution. Samaritan’s Purse is doing water, hospital, distribution in the communities, and tarpaulins.“

Workmen cover this house in Newtown, Black River, St Elizabeth, with tarpaulin on Thursday. (Karl Mclarty)

Workmen in action at Newtown in Black River, St Elizabeth, after Hurricane Melissa. (Karl Mclarty)