Old Harbour Bay relieved Melissa changed course

Although deeply sympathetic to Jamaicans whose communities were devastated by Hurricane Melissa, residents of Old Harbour Bay in St Catherine say they are breathing a sigh of relief after the deadly Category 5 system diverted from their path at the last minute.

"Every time storm come, Old Harbour Bay feel it first or the most. A lucky we lucky this time because Melissa did a head fi right here so first and is like she change her mind," a resident who called himself Yellow told THE STAR.

"Mi nah go tell you no lie, mi neva lose much and mi glad say Melissa just turn from we and spare we, because if it was here, everything woulda gone wid the sea," he added. The seaside fishing village, which has endured the wrath of storms such as Gilbert, Ivan, Dean and most recently Beryl, was initially in Melissa's direct path. But when the system shifted course, many residents thanked God for His mercy.

When THE STAR visited the area yesterday, clean-up activities were in full swing. Men were remaking frames for stalls, while women and children were raking debris off the beach. Despite the visible signs of destruction, the fisherfolk said they were counting their blessings.

"Mi have more than 70 pot a sea weh Hurricane Melissa mash up. If yuh have 70 pot, you haffi a carry them go far go sea go set them. So you haffi carry four today and four tomorrow. Sometimes how the weather rough, you can't carry more than two," said fisherman Alton Simpson.

Simpson, who has fished the Old Harbour Bay waters for decades, explained that his livelihood had been wiped out.

"The more pot you have, the more you eat, because we have families to take care of. But I was in a predicament 'cause I couldn't even save one. Everything just gone from me inna two days and now it look like nothing never happened," he said. Simpson said that the hurricane's timing could not have been worse.

"Melissa come at a time when mi nuh have no strong money fi get a boat, gas it and pay man fi help me pull them in. It's a big loss, we a look at about $2 million. Mi live here all mi life because mi a 54 years old, and me go through Ivan, Dean, Gilbert and the other one dem, and mi a tell you seh the way how this one did fi go, a lucky we lucky," he said.

For Debra Morgan, 43, who lost her stall and suffered damage to her home, the experience was another painful reminder of how vulnerable Old Harbour Bay remains.

"My stall is how I make money. Mi a scrape fish fi years but a four year now mi have a stall and this bad fi me. But it could a be much worse," she said. Morgan said she believes divine intervention spared the community.

"God love we, Him see say Old Harbour Bay get a beating every time, and if Melissa stronger than the rest, all people woulda dead here," she reasoned.