Claudine Housen, Staff Reporter
Ms. Veronica Parchment, one of the many residents appealing for help. - Claudine Housen Photo
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE COMMUNITY of Great Bay, Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth, is in crisis as scores of families, their homes and farms submerged in water, are grappling with an increasing sense of hopelessness.
When The Sunday Gleaner news team braved the murky waters on Friday, a silent prayer went up, when over three feet of water slapped against the four- wheel drive vehicle in which the news team was travelling. There was desolation everywhere: Shops were closed, homes were abandoned, fields were flooded and loose debris, such as clothing and other items, floated freely along the mile-long waterway.
A few children, out of school, scattered at the edge of the flood waters, looked curiously at fishing boats as they trekked across the community on frequent trips like robot taxis.
CRIES FOR HELP
Residents gathered in small groups, recounted the harrowing experience. Some said all they had left were the clothes on their backs, and the temporary 'kotch' that they have been afforded, cannot suffice. Some embellished their tales with fervent cries for help from Government, or just anyone who would listen.
Single mother and sole provider for her 17-year-old daughter, domestic worker, Ms. Veronica Parchment, is devastated. She does not know how she is going to provide for her child when school reopens for classes tomorrow.
"She need her books to go to six form at Munro," Ms. Parchment lamented, adding that she does not know where the funds to replace the books will come from. "I do day's work every other week; a that I have to live off and send mi daughter go to school. A mi a di mother and father."
"Everything wet up in the house, bed, everything," she said repeatedly.
Ms. Parchment's family is one of the more than 40 households in Great Bay, St. Elizabeth, that have been directly affected by flood waters due to the passage of Hurricane Wilma last week.
LOST EVERYTHING
"See the house, the only thing you can see is the little top. I could not take out anything because of the water. I could not take out anything," she cried. "I own only the pair of shoes I have on my feet. I lost everything. I am on the road just like an animal."
"From Wednesday evening when the water come down, we haffi run," she continued. "I need a mattress for when I go back down there to lie down on, because I don't have anything. It is all wet up."
Ms. Parchment is not alone. Further up the road, another resident, 35-year-old Denise Vassel, had to move twice in order to escape the rising waters. She gave The Sunday Gleaner an account of her initial panic and ultimate escape, wading through more than three feet of water.
"On Tuesday evening, the water start to come [rise], we moved to an unfinished house on Wednesday night," she said. "The water was on the bottom step [on Wednesday night] and by Thursday morning, the water was on the top step and we had to move out again.
"I don't know when I am going to get back in my house again," Ms. Vassel said. "A boat we have to use come out because the water catch me up a mi waist."
According to the residents, the water rose quickly, giving them only a short time to escape.
Forty-seven-year-old, Dorolyn Smith is crushed; she, her mother and her brother, have all been washed out of their homes.
WATER ALL AROUND
"I was in my house sleeping," she said. "When I get up out of my bed and step down, I feel the water. I got up and I come outside and when I come outside, the water was all around the house, and we had to get a boat to take us out of there.
"It is affecting me very bad, because my house is all filled with water, and my sister's house, my mother's house and lots of other houses are all filled with water," she continued. "I think what they should do to help us is drain the water to the sea. That is the only way I think I can get some help."
"It is really just grief," said resident, Mr. Norman Elliott, who braved the waters in a red Toyota Tacoma, driven by caretaker for the Pedro Plains area, Michael E. Buchanan, on Friday.
PARTIALLY SUBMERGED
"The houses are partially submerged; most of the houses in the flooded areas are about half way underneath the water. Approxi-mately 30 houses have been affected. All the furniture in them has been destroyed," he said.
"The water just came from wherever it was coming from suddenly. It did not give any warning, it just happened."
According to Mr. Elliott, this is the first flooding of this magnitude that the community has seen in over 40 years.
"I live here over 40 years, but people who have lived here for 80 years have never seen anything like this," Mr. Elliott said.
"The fact of the matter is, the water just begin to come from the Great Pond, it just backing up to here. It has never happened before."
