Residents lose everything as floodwaters ravage Big Pond

For many residents of Big Pond in Old Harbour, St Catherine, Hurricane Wilma’s floodwaters left nothing behind but devastation. Families lost their homes, furniture, and livestock as rising waters submerged entire houses, forcing some to swim for their lives. Taxi driver and farmer Roy Dunn said he lost all his belongings and dozens of chickens, while others were left stranded without food, electricity, or running water. With no emergency response team in sight, residents now face the painful task of rebuilding from nothing.

Published Friday, October 21, 2005

‘Wilma’ leaves bad memories behind

Flooding is nothing new to residents of Big Pond in Old Harbour, St Catherine. However, this time, residents say it is the worst they have ever seen, as the waters washed out furniture, drowned animals, and submerged several houses in the community.
Lloyd Quarries, a resident, said that, on Tuesday morning, he woke up to find water inside his house, forcing himself and his family to flee. “Wi haffi swim out and walk through bushes and come back round fi escape,” Quarries said. He added that the adults had to place the children on top of furniture and then take them out one by one as the water rose in the homes.
Four houses surround Quarries’ property, and the 20 adults and children who live in these houses had to swim out or drown. Further in the community, several houses along Sylvester Drive were also submerged.
Access to the entire community was barely possible.
Residents took the news team to Sylvester Drive using a road through the bushes which had become a muddy lake. A walk that would normally take five minutes using the regular route took 40 minutes.
At Sylvester Drive, tales of the rising waters were even worse. Lorna Myton said that, when she saw the waters rising, she sent her children away to Sandy Bay in Clarendon and escaped just in time before the flood reached her home. Myton, like other residents, said this was the worst flooding they had ever seen. “When it came up last time (Hurricane Emily), only the bottom of the bed was wet, and it was on eight blocks. Now mi can’t even see di roof of mi house,” she said.
Roy Dunn, a taxi driver and chicken farmer whose house was also completely submerged, said he not only lost all his belongings but also dozens of chickens he was rearing. Before Wednesday, Dunn had only been back to his house once, and he said, when he saw it, he could only laugh because it was too painful to cry. “When mi come here yesterday (Wednesday), a only di rust pan mi house top mi coulda see,” he said.
Dunn, who went to buy food when the water came in, could only watch as his mother and sister were trapped inside the house. “Mi buy food and couldn’t carry it go gi dem. A mi nephew seh him a go and tek di food and swim go over di house go give dem di food,” he said.
Many of the marooned residents who could not swim out were eventually rescued by a fisherman who took his boat from Old Harbour Bay and used it to manoeuvre through the floodwaters to reach them.
Some residents who had moved into their neighbours’ two-storey houses were trapped on the upper floors without food or any way to leave.
In the meantime, residents are calling for help, adding that they have no running water or electricity. They say no emergency response team has come to the community to assist or evacuate those who have lost everything in the flood.

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