Firefighters save Mandeville residents from flooded homes
Published:Thursday | October 30, 2025 | 12:15 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
Residents of Gibson Close, off Ward Avenue, in Mandeville had faced flooding before, but never one severe enough to submerge their homes.
On Tuesday, as Hurricane Melissa battered the area, firefighters had to be called to rescue seven people from the roof of a house as they tried desperately to escape the rising floodwaters.
“I don’t kiss man, but I wudda kiss them (firefighters) because when they save all of us, it was magnificent,” 76-year-old Leebert Campbell declared.
His home was among three houses and a garage that was inundated as Hurricane Melissa lashed up 30 inches of rainfall on the island on Tuesday.
The day before the storm’s arrival, Campbell, knowing his home was at risk of flooding, sought shelter at his neighbour, Rose Salkey’s house.
He told The Gleaner that he did expect her home to suffer the fate he predicted for his.
“This is a upstairs house and we neva know di water would come up there, [but] the water keep coming up to the upstairs,” he explained.
The returning resident said the ordeal left him distressed, but grateful to have been saved.
“I was really scared. When the firemen come, a neva hesitate. I jump on the ladder,” he said.
Salkey told The Gleaner that she and her four children never imagined that their home of seven years would be flooded like that and so did not make any plans to evacuate.
“We had our important documents packed away and stuff like that. And we got our food supplies, medical supplies were in place, and everything else. We were just waiting to see the storm and the passage of it. That’s it,” she said.
She said she never expected that hours into the storm, they’d be facing up to seven feet of water, while waiting on their roof to be rescued.
It was harrowing, but she said she had to maintain her composure for the sake of her children.
“I had to be there to support them and to encourage them on and all of that, and to tell them we have to fight. Because even when we are up to our noses in the water, we still can’t give up. So I had to send them out, make sure the firemen get them first, and then I went last,” she said.
Salkey also praised the firefighters, who she said showed great strength and professionalism.
“They had their thing organised and I really applaud them for that,” she said.
She said her family has lost everything, including furniture, appliances, and more, and the enormity of the recovery ahead leaves her feeling overwhelmed.
“It (house) is still flooding and we can’t go through the debris, and it is still at a very dangerous height. So we have to wait; and it is very dirty at this time, too, because, as you would imagine, sewage is also a part of it. Yes, but we give God thanks for what He has done for us so far,” she said.