( Jamaica Observer ) A small closet in a St Elizabeth couple’s bedroom was the only place they could find refuge last Wednesday, pulling on the husband’s neckties to keep the door shut as Category 4 Hurricane Beryl pummelled Jamaica’s south coast with savage winds and heavy rain.
According to Everton and Josephine Martin, they were forced to use the closet as a shield when the roof of their house in Bellevue, southern St Elizabeth, was ripped off, exposing them to the catastrophic winds.
“I thought that the walls of the building were coming down; it was like a strong man grabbed something and was shaking everything out of it. I heard when the roof started to give way,” Everton Martin told the Jamaica Observer on Friday.
“We were inside the house during the hurricane and we had to stick ourselves away in a maybe three feet by four feet closet until there was a little calm in the storm,” he said while demonstrating how he and his wife held the neckties to keep the closet door from opening.
He explained that during a lull in the wind and rain their neighbour came, got them out, and took them to his house. However, when the hurricane activity resumed, they moved to another house “and that is where we stayed for the night,” he said.
Although shaken by the ordeal Martin expressed gratitude that he and his wife made it through the storm.
“I still give thanks to God, because we are alive and yes, we are here sitting down,” he said, tears welling in his eyes.
“In all of this we have to give thanks, because our lives have been spared, and once there is life then we are able to rebuild or to do something else to get along with our lives,” he said then made an appeal to the Government for assistance.
“We need some help, Mr Prime Minister. This is the time that you need to come and help us. I am looking at about $5 million worth of damage. I can’t manage it on my own. I need some help, please help us,” he said then broke down in tears.
Across the road from the Martins’ house, Byron Duff showed the Sunday Observer a 40-foot container that was moved about 10 metres by the hurricane’s winds.
“It was never at this location, it was over on that property there and the breeze took it from there and put it right in the middle of the road here. This hurricane must have come with some crane, it is nothing that we have ever experienced before,” said Duff.
He said the devastation in the community was worse than that caused by Category 3 Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 and Category 4 Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
“This was nothing normal. It is the first time I ever experienced this [much damage]. We go through Ivan, we go through Gilbert, and this is nothing compared to Gilbert or Ivan. I experienced both of them and this is something extraordinary,” he said, adding that he is fearful of what may come in the future.
“In the near future we are going to get more devastation, so we have to take all the necessary precautions that we can to protect ourselves,” added Duff.