- Norman GrindleyOswald Hanson, partially crippled, was surrounded by water, in Job Lane, Spanish Town, during the heavy rains.
SIX months and another major flood have passed and some elderly people affected by the November flood rains in Portland are still living in shelters.
The seven seniors, five men and two women aged between 60 and 70 years old, are at the Lynch Park Recreational Centre in Buff Bay, Portland. Unlike other flood victims, they have not been relocated because they either have no relatives to stay with, or no land on which a house can be erected for them.
"The Government, along with Food for the Poor have been trying to house them. But the difficulty is with finding land. They have to ensure that the rightful owner of the land has been found, the property tax paid up and that everything is set before a house is placed on it," explained Beverley Hall-Taylor, executive director of the National Council for Senior Citizens (NCSC).
The Sunday Gleaner understands that the difficulty has been with acquiring land in the Craignill district.
The seniors are in a desperate situation, several of them lost their farms and now have no means of livelihood while one person's home, though still standing, is in a flood prone area and he doesn't want to go back.
"An 80-year-old man who is blind went back to live with family in the Bybrook area about a month ago but he is very fearful - he only narrowly escaped in October. He said he only wants to be there until the relocation," said Pastor Clarence Brown, shelter manager.
Errol Ennis, Member of Parliament for West Portland, said it is regrettable that the elderly have been living in the shelter for so long, but said there are plans to relocate them and the other "shelterees" in a few weeks.
"The Ministry of Water and Housing is well advanced in its plans to relocate them to another site. The acquisition of land took much longer than we would have liked. But prior to the final relocation, provisional arrangements have been made for them and they should be relocated in the next few weeks," Mr. Ennis said.
The elderly who receive food and clothing from Salvation Army and other relief agencies, also receive food stamps from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
"They are glad for what they are getting but they are tired of the canned foods. They say they wish they could get a different sort of meal once in a while," said Mrs. Hall-Taylor.
K. B.
