‘We’re living out of suitcases and garbage bags’

Thirty-one-year-old Trishana Brown has now lost the roof of her home for the third time, most recently during Hurricane Beryl’s passage three weeks ago.

Having also lost her roof during hurricanes Ivan in 2004 and Dean in 2007, the Portland Cottage, Clarendon resident was at her wits’ end last Thursday.

“It’s been a lot of starting over,” she bemoaned in an interview with The Gleaner. “Right now, we’re living out of suitcases and garbage bags.”

The distressed woman said that her household of seven – which includes a 19-year-old and three children, ages two, three, and 10 – has been left vulnerable to the elements.

Brown’s top priority now is to find building materials for a new roof. However, it has been challenging since the money being earned only covers immediate needs like food.

Brown, who has been living in the community for 28 years, informed The Gleaner that her children have not stopped crying and have expressed their worry that they have nowhere to live.

Reflecting on her preparations ahead of the hurricane, Brown said that the family moved most of their furniture and household appliances to a friend’s two-storey property across the street.

Beds and dressers which remained in the home suffered major water damage.

Although Brown’s immediate thoughts are on reroofing the structure, she is also anxious about the upcoming school year and stated that she would much rather be able to relocate from the flood-prone coastal community.

“I have to do the best for my kids, and this is not the best. We can’t keep on going back and forth with the same thing,” she stated.

“Even if rain fall heavy, when the water level rise, it decide not to go either way; it just sits still, and we have to dig our own drains. Each time the rain falls, it’s the same problem,” she added.

In 2005, it was reported that over 200 families who lived close to the salt pond and marsh in Portland Cottage were relocated by the Office of National Reconstruction and supported by the United States Agency for International Development.

Following Hurricane Ivan, these families moved to new homes in Shearer’s Heights, situated on roughly 70 acres of land at an elevation of 60 feet above sea level.

Brown, who fears that her children might have to wait until October before they can return to school, told The Gleaner that she is hopeful that this will be the last time that she would have to deal with this situation.

“We’re still thinking about getting the roof first because it’s not comfortable [here],” she said.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com