Pennants swimming in mud

Three families in the community of Pennants in north Clarendon had to seek refuge on a counter when the Rio Minho river burst its banks and inundated their homes late Monday evening.

Jamie Elliott said when the sound of the roaring river woke him up around 10 p.m., his yard was already flooded.

"When mi come out water surround the house. Mi have to carry my four children to my sister's house," Elliott recalled. "When mi come back, I have to just move mi babymother and mother inna the shop."

Shovelling mud

A disabled woman was among those who had to mount the shop counter.

"The water come under the bed and mi children's father had to lift mi up; I couldn't use the wheelchair," Beverly Gregory said.

When THE STAR visited the community early yesterday, the families were busy shovelling mud and other sediments out of their homes.

"Mi have a car wash out there and some of the machine dem gone inna river," Elliott said. "Wat nuh gone mi nuh think can use again."

Sandra Clarke, who also suffered during the ordeal, said that she will always be living on the river bank no matter how many times she has to shovel mud from under her bed.

"I don't have anywhere else to go suh if me have to start over mi have to do it," Clarke said.