Shara Barnett recounts her near-death experience in Caribbean Terrace yesterday when a 50-foot storm surge breached her house, forcing her family to run for cover. They were eventually rescued by police and another residents. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

FOR THE second time in three years, homes in Caribbean Terrace, East Kingston, have been devastated by a major hurricane.

The seaside community was walloped by storm surges, some as high as 50 feet, leaving many residents traumatised.

Shara Barnett, a resident, said she, her family and neighbours are grateful to be alive.

"When the water started coming, we run out and went into the house across there (the street) and when we in the house, the water just come in a storm surge of about 50 feet and there were about 20 adults and five children in the house.

"When we look, the children were swimming in the water. We had to burst through the back and put the children over the wall and run over the wall and start running," she said.

Thankfully, a man saw them and accommodated some of them in his house, while others were picked up by cops on patrol and taken to shelters.

The echoing screams still linger in her mind.

"We heard screaming, screaming and screaming and we were wondering what is causing that, and when we look out, is our neighbours that run out of them house and water running out behind them," she said.

Pointing to a two-door Suzuki Swift that was hoisted on to a retaining wall, she remarked that the water was at extremely dangerous levels.

"Some (residents) said they saw the water drag the car and just slap it on the wall," she said.

At other homes, the story of devastation was the same. The hurricane broke grilles and hauled cars out of driveways on to lawns or beside piles of rubble.

Ignoring evacuation warnings

Many residents shovelled silt from their homes as they tried to restore some semblance of normality to their lives. One woman who had battened down her house and moved to safety, came home to find the door and gates ripped off and the furniture in a rubble. She could hardly express her feeling about the devastation, choosing to just sip some Red Stripe beer as she stared at her family members trying to clean up the property.

Though an evacuation order was issued, many residents ignored the warning, planning instead to easily ride out the storm.

"In (Hurricane) Ivan it was not so bad. The water did not come so far that time," Barnett said.

In the meantime, the police continued to maintain a presence in the community to prevent looting.

About 17 houses were ravaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Last year, Government decided to award $25.5 million to residents who had lost property in the storm as well as dredge the lower section of Hope River and create a buffer zone to storm surges.