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Dean's fury claims 3 lives
St Thomas takes hard beatingINGRID BROWN, Observer staff reporter
Monday, August 20, 2007
Rocky Point is a scene of destruction this morning after the passage of Hurricane Dean last night. (Photo: Michael Gordon)
HURRICANE Dean's monstrous winds and relentless rains claimed two lives in St Thomas and possibly a third in St Catherine yesterday, as it pounded the parish, forcing scores of families out of their homes, downing power lines and inundating roadways.
Confirmed dead are 14-year-old Samantha Prince of Hamburg and 33-year-old Marjorie Thomas, both of the eastern parish of St Thomas which disaster agencies said had taken one of the hardest beatings from Dean.
A third but unconfirmed death - that of an unidentified man in Old Harbour, St Catherine who is said to have ventured out to face Dean's fury after the hurricane took his roof - was also reported to the Observer.
Prince, who was a student of Happy Grove High School, was hit in the head when a block fell from the roof during the height of the storm.
Her grandmother Marciree Phillips was so overcome with grief that she told the Observer she could not even cry for her only granddaughter.
"I have pressure and so if I start to cry I am going to die too," she said, a blank stare etched on her face.
She explained that sometime around 3:00 pm yesterday, Prince was standing inside the kitchen when the block fell through the roof and landed on her head.
Residents explained that they tried rushing Prince, who was unconscious at the time, to the hospital but had to turn back after angry waves along the Rozelle main road prevented them from going further.
They said they were forced to return with her to a nearby church hall which was operating as a shelter. "She stayed there until she died some time later," the distraught grandmother said. The body was, however, not removed until late yesterday morning.
The residents blamed the condition of the Rozelle road for the death of Prince as they said had the road not been built so close to the sea, Prince's life could have been saved.
"We really tried but when we went on the road the wave was washing away the car and so we just had to take her back," said another resident.
Meanwhile, Thomas, who relatives said had been ailing from a chronic disease for some time, was left alone in the one-room dwelling by her relatives who went to seek shelter on safer grounds.
Her sister told the Observer that there was nothing she could have done as she had to seek shelter for herself and her young baby.
"Water was blowing in on her and when I came back down here she was wet and cold," she said, pointing to the single window which was partially covered with old pieces of board and a piece of cloth.
The floor was covered with water and sections of the zinc roof was still fluttering in the wind when the newspaper visited.
She said Thomas' boyfriend and her 15-year-old son had also gone elsewhere to seek shelter during the storm.
In addition to taking two lives, Dean also cut telephone links with St Thomas, which was also devastated by the last big storm, Ivan, which came ashore at Poor Man's Corner in the parish in 2004.
James Robertson, JLP candidate for Western St Thomas, told the Observer that his main concern was that telephone services be restored to the parish as soon as possible.
He said he had not been able to hear from anyone in places like Cedar Valley, Hagley Gap and Trinityville since the hurricane.
St Thomas takes hard beatingINGRID BROWN, Observer staff reporter
Monday, August 20, 2007
Rocky Point is a scene of destruction this morning after the passage of Hurricane Dean last night. (Photo: Michael Gordon)HURRICANE Dean's monstrous winds and relentless rains claimed two lives in St Thomas and possibly a third in St Catherine yesterday, as it pounded the parish, forcing scores of families out of their homes, downing power lines and inundating roadways.
Confirmed dead are 14-year-old Samantha Prince of Hamburg and 33-year-old Marjorie Thomas, both of the eastern parish of St Thomas which disaster agencies said had taken one of the hardest beatings from Dean.
A third but unconfirmed death - that of an unidentified man in Old Harbour, St Catherine who is said to have ventured out to face Dean's fury after the hurricane took his roof - was also reported to the Observer.
Prince, who was a student of Happy Grove High School, was hit in the head when a block fell from the roof during the height of the storm.
Her grandmother Marciree Phillips was so overcome with grief that she told the Observer she could not even cry for her only granddaughter.
"I have pressure and so if I start to cry I am going to die too," she said, a blank stare etched on her face.
She explained that sometime around 3:00 pm yesterday, Prince was standing inside the kitchen when the block fell through the roof and landed on her head.
Residents explained that they tried rushing Prince, who was unconscious at the time, to the hospital but had to turn back after angry waves along the Rozelle main road prevented them from going further.
They said they were forced to return with her to a nearby church hall which was operating as a shelter. "She stayed there until she died some time later," the distraught grandmother said. The body was, however, not removed until late yesterday morning.
The residents blamed the condition of the Rozelle road for the death of Prince as they said had the road not been built so close to the sea, Prince's life could have been saved.
"We really tried but when we went on the road the wave was washing away the car and so we just had to take her back," said another resident.
Meanwhile, Thomas, who relatives said had been ailing from a chronic disease for some time, was left alone in the one-room dwelling by her relatives who went to seek shelter on safer grounds.
Her sister told the Observer that there was nothing she could have done as she had to seek shelter for herself and her young baby.
"Water was blowing in on her and when I came back down here she was wet and cold," she said, pointing to the single window which was partially covered with old pieces of board and a piece of cloth.
The floor was covered with water and sections of the zinc roof was still fluttering in the wind when the newspaper visited.
She said Thomas' boyfriend and her 15-year-old son had also gone elsewhere to seek shelter during the storm.
In addition to taking two lives, Dean also cut telephone links with St Thomas, which was also devastated by the last big storm, Ivan, which came ashore at Poor Man's Corner in the parish in 2004.
James Robertson, JLP candidate for Western St Thomas, told the Observer that his main concern was that telephone services be restored to the parish as soon as possible.
He said he had not been able to hear from anyone in places like Cedar Valley, Hagley Gap and Trinityville since the hurricane.
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