Tavern and Kintyre keep fingers and toes crossed
Published:Monday | July 5, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Martin Jackson is pessimistic as he prepares for another hurricane season.
He resides in one of the two St Andrew communities which are usually hardest hit at this time of the year.
According to Jackson, persons living in the hilly community of Tavern and the neighbouring Kintyre are rolling with the punches each hurricane season.
Both communities, located across the Hope River and linked by the Eric Bell Bridge, are still to recover from the impact of hurricanes Ivan in 2004 and Dean in 2007, and Tropical Storm Gustav the following year.
Just over a month into another hurricane season, Jackson said residents there are not prepared.
"We keeping we fingers crossed," he said, lounging next to the river, which was at a low level in comparison to the many metres it can rise during a storm.
No option
Residents know the risk of living on the riverbanks but insist they have nowhere else to go.
"Most of us experience damage," Jackson said, "but we just have to go on."
Jackson, who has been living in Tavern all his life, recalled vehicles arriving with dirt in the past to "dump up" the area to reinforce the riverbanks.
"It is more of an individual effort," he said of the repairs that are made in both communities.
"Each person deal with their place."
He, like other rural St Andrew residents, does not have faith in the State to carry out the necessary repairs.
"If they don't do it since Gilbert (a devastating hurricane which hit Jamaica in 1988), why should they it now?" he asked.
Upon assessing the damage caused by the Hope River during Tropical Storm Gustav in 2008, Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced that members of parliament would be receiving $2 million to assist persons with damaged property.
Construction task force
Some weeks later, the minister of housing and water presented two houses to two Kintyre residents who lost their homes amid the storm.
Golding also announced that a task force would be created to put a stop to the construction of houses along the Hope River.
It has been two years since the last major storm, and persons continue to reside along the riverbanks in houses that were almost destroyed.
"Some houses sink," Jackson said of the remaining damage, "and some structure crack up."
Amir Bailey, who makes steel frames in a shop beside the river, said the damage in 2008 was bad enough to force residents into the Kintyre Community Centre, which was recently refurbished.
"It was wicked damage and people had to stay at the centre until they could go home," he told The Gleaner.
Residents of Tavern and Kintyre continue to live among garbage, old car parts and discarded freezers strewn across different sections of the riverbanks.
In the meantime, the river continues its steady flow, threatening to breach its banks again if another storm or hurricane should hit.