Copyright jamaica-gleaner
Haunted by memories of their matriarch who they lost during flood rains in 2021, a family in Bottom Halse Hall, Clarendon was forced to flee their home as flood waters from a nearby pond, swollen by Hurricane Melissa, poured into their humble homes. Perched precariously close to the pond, which rises every time it rains, residents of the informal settlement paused from their clean up to share a tale of woe. Forty-seven-year-old Denise Sinclair, known in the community as Macka, puffed on a ganja spliff that she told The Gleaner helps calm her nerves. Her eyes were bleary from lack of sleep. She said that, as the unwelcome water took over her home, which she shares with her spouse, she was forced to seek refuge at her adult daughter's property. “You know seh it spread all 'bout, suh you can imagine mi live here suh as you can say wi give God thanks cause it coulda worsa don’t. Miss is mi house dis and mi have mi likkle shop weh mi she mi a try do something. Miss watch yah mi haffi run wid mi life water reach above mi knees. Mi had to run guh mi daughter weh live pan di hill. Mi carry mi suitcase and mi documents. A dis mawnin mi come back because to how mi body a shake mi neva wah come a dis mawnin mi come and come find him bruise up because him lose control and drop and him coulda drown to. Him stay here say him nah come out and mi say mi nah stay here wid him mi nuh brave like him.” Her sister, Marcia, occupies another small dwelling on the banks of the pond with her four children. As the water rose, they sought refuge with relatives and, on Wednesday, her eldest daughter joined her to begin the arduous task of cleaning up. However, Melissa did not only bring flood water to their homes, the hurricane resurrected past trauma for the family. It was during another flooding that their mother, Euralyn Slowly, died. “The weather, the weather. She got pneumonia. When she guh di doctor har eye red like blood. We doan memba a which storm, but the place flood, right in this house. It nuh haffi flood nor nuttin'. As likkle rain fall, it start rise. If we get a good rain, wi cyah tan in yah.” The community has been urged to relocate and, while The Gleaner was there, a quarrel erupted among the residents about whether their woes were based on their refusal to leave the area. According to long-time resident, 72-year-old Donald Green, the area has been deemed unsuitable for houses but each time people are relocated other residents rebuild. “You see like how wi move dem deh (others there before) and people guh back guh capture it, if wi move dem yah, people ah guh back guh capture it and wi ah guh inna di said problem. Dat a di biggest problem inna Halse Hall, rasta. If you move dem people ah guh guh back guh capture di land. All dem yah house yah fi move, you nuh, 'cause wi guh through process fi move dem.” The occupants of the houses admit that they have no claim to the property but say they have nowhere else to go. karen.madden@gleanerjm.com
