Hundreds seek refuge in shelters

Residents of St Andrew east rural took an early advantage of the emergency shelter located at the Papine High School, just mere hours before Hurricane Beryl made landfall on Wednesday afternoon.

Simone Nelson was one of eight persons who sought refuge at the secondary school, fleeing their homes in fear of the wrath expected to be unleashed by the category four hurricane.

Nelson, with her three-year-old daughter clenched tightly in her arm and her eight-year-old daughter glued to her side, told THE STAR that she left her house in Shervington, Gordon Town, on Tuesday night.

"I made the decision to stay over because it is very dangerous. When we have heavy rain, there is a river nearby and it runs across the community so I know what it's like. If I had stayed, maybe the windows or the roof would be gone," Nelson, a janitor, said.

"I've never experienced it before and I don't want to. I have never seen the place like this," she stressed, adding that she heeded to the warnings of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica to head to the nearest shelter.

Almost 500 persons sought refuge in shelters across the island yesterday. The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management said more than 100 persons were evacuated from flood-prone communities in Old Harbour Bay, St Catherine, after their houses were threatened by rising water associated with the passage of Hurricane Beryl.

Meanwhile, in Papine yesterday, Herbert Williams, like Nelson, decided to leave his home in Falling located along Gordon Town main road as he fears landslides and being marooned in his community.

"I came here this morning because I don't trust how the storm look. I live below the road so I don't want no landslide. I don't want it [landslide] to come down on my rooftop," he told THE STAR.

Williams, a 50-year-old tailor, shared that this was his second time staying at the shelter, having spent his first encounter in 1988 during the passage of Hurricane Gilbert.

"Me never carry nuh much clothes, me just make sure carry my ID and passport and me have two likkle snacks in my bag. Me just a gwan watch and see," Williams said.

He added that although he came to the shelter alone, he urged his neighbours and relatives to join him at the emergency shelter.

"Me tell dem fi come but dem a say a just one likkle rain, dem nah come. Me encourage dem fi come but dem a say nothing nah gwan too tough. Me a urge dem fi come before it late," he said.