SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – The Caribbean is still struggling to recover from last year’s hurricanes, with crews scrambling to rebuild homes and replant crops as the region faces a new season of storms.

Last year was one of the most active seasons in more than six decades, with 15 of 18 Caribbean nations reporting damages, according to the Caribbean Development Bank.

At least six major storms caused an estimated $355 million in damage from the Bahamas to the Dominican Republic in 2008, Pamela Knights, of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency, said Thursday.

The total damage is considered to be much higher: Haiti – which was most affected – is not included on the list and several islands did not submit reports. Haitian officials have said that four tropical storms caused $1 billion in damage.

More than 800 people in the Caribbean died during the most recent hurricane season, the majority in Haiti. Many areas in the impoverished country remain severely damaged: Bridges have not been rebuilt nor roads repaired.

Other islands including Jamaica, the Turks and Caicos and Cayman Brac also are reporting slow rebuilding efforts.

Jamaica’s largest banana company for the first time decided not to replant mangled fields, opting instead to sell one estate and trying to diversify another with crops including cassava and sweet potatoes.

Hurricane Gustav hit the island in late August and destroyed 3,500 acres (1,400 hectares) of banana fields, 2,000 acres (800 hectares) of which belonged to the Jamaica Producers Group, chairman Marshall Hall said.

The company will monitor this year’s hurricane season before deciding whether to increase production, he said.

After Gustav came Hurricane Ike, a category four storm that damaged 95 per cent of homes on Grand Turk and South Caicos in September. It also razed crops and battered a $60 million cruise ship terminal.

Premier Galmo Williams recently criticised the British Government for delaying a corruption probe he says has blocked the territory from borrowing money to repair damages, estimated at $190 million – the highest among Caribbean nations that reported losses to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency.

Two months after Hurricane Ike hit, another category four storm roared toward the Caribbean, pummelling the Cayman Islands and causing an estimated $15 million in damages: Hurricane Paloma unleashed nearly 18 inches (45 centimetres) of rain in early November and damaged about 75 per cent of homes in Cayman Brac.

“They let their guard down a little bit,” said Mark Laskin, director of the islands’ National Recovery Fund, referring to residents.

Laskin is overseeing reconstruction in Cayman Brac, where an estimated 70 homes still have to be built. A shortage of contractors and difficulty obtaining construction materials has delayed efforts, Laskin said.

In the US Virgin Islands, officials are debating new rules for boat owners after Hurricane Omar destroyed 50 vessels in St Croix last October, said Howard Forbes, environmental enforcement director.

The government has proposed requiring boat owners to buy more insurance this year, said Forbes, who declined to provide details because the proposal has not yet been approved.

Forecasters say this year’s hurricane season – which runs from June through November – will be less active than last year. Researchers at North Carolina State University say between 11 and 14 storms will develop in the Atlantic and six to eight of them will become hurricanes.

Last year, there were 16 named storms and eight hurricanes.