Thread: Hurricane Dean Reports - Jamaica

ISSUED ON: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 7:00 p.m.

Impact of Hurricane Dean on Jamaica


Casualties



Four persons are confirmed dead as a result of injuries related to the passage of Hurricane Dean.

§ In St. Andrew a 34-year-old male was electrocuted while trimming tree limbs.

§ In Clarendon a 44-year-old farmer was found dead in the ruins of his home.

§ In St. Thomas a 15-year-old female was critically injured by concrete block, which fell through her roof.

§ In St. Elizabeth a 48-year-old female succumbed to injuries received from flying debris.


Damage Assessment


Areas Impacted

Within 12 hours of the impact of hurricane Dean on Jamaica, two rapid aerial reconnaissances were undertaken primarily along the southern parishes of the island. These flights covered the parishes of St. Catherine to Westmoreland and Kingston & St. Andrew to Portland and St. Mary. From the aerial reconnaissance five areas have been identified as being severely damaged. These are:
§ Clarendon: Portland Cottage and Rocky Point
§ St Catherine: Old Harbour Bay
§ Kingston & St. Andrew: Caribbean Terrace and Bull Bay

Ground teams were deployed to undertake initial assessment of the communities to ascertain the number of houses damaged and the levels of damage associated with these houses.

Initial Assessment
The assessment revealed that in the above communities just fewer than 1600 houses sustained level 1 to level 4 damage (minor damage to destroyed). The majority of the damage was concentrated in Clarendon, which recorded 56% of the damage, followed by St Catherine and Kingston and St. Andrew with 30% and 14% respectively.

Approximately 41% of the damage in the critically affected areas sustained level 4 damage and 25% had major damage. That is, 66% of the houses are destroyed or need major repairs. St Catherine has the highest percentage of destroyed houses, however, Clarendon had the highest number of major damage and destroyed houses combined.

Generally, observation of overall damage in these areas was restricted to fallen trees, fallen utility poles and utility lines and lack of water supply.

The assessment process is on going and the figures are expected to increase as data becomes available.

Actions Taken


The following are some of the actions undertaken by the ODPEM:

§ The National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) continues to be activated.

§ Resource and Needs list are constantly being compiled.
§ Security and welfare functional groups developed plans of action for response.
§ Monitoring of shelters and feeding of shelterees
§ Relief distribution carried out to Old Harbour and Manchester
§ Collation of Damage Assessment Data
§ Food Drops to Westphalia, Halls Delight, Hagley Gap, Penlyne Castle
Parish EOC’s deactivated in the Southern Region

- Southern and Eastern Jamaica totally devasted,Dean kills 3

• From: Blayz Brooks <blayzbrooks at yahoo.com>
• Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 14:17:31 -0700 (PDT)

Power and water have been restored here in MontegoBay,and much of northern Jamaica,as luckily,We escaped the full wrath of Hurricane Dean and onlyexperienced Tropical Storm Conditions.In my neighborhoodI have seen minor damage,a few tilesoff roofs blown off,large branches blown down, andsmall trees like banana blown down.All the hotels are now reopened and yesterday,the3000+ seater Royal Caribbean Cruiseliner arrived andthere are already tourists booking hotels ,so life inthis section of Jamaica is life as usual, although weare still experiencing plenty rains.South and Eastern Jamaica were not as luck as wewere,they experienced Hurricane Conditions with gustsup to Category 3 strength.The television station CVM tvin Kingston recordedsustained winds of 114 kpkp/71mphLionel Town,Clarendon reported 100mph gustsThe Norman Manley Airport officiallyeported 81mphgusts before they stopped reporting.There was an unoffical report of sustained winds of114mph with 138mph gusts,however this has not beenverified.I recorded 50 mph winds here on my handheld anemometer before it got too dangerous and I went inside.Some areas totally dedevastatedMany areas of Eastern and Southern Jamaica are totallydevastated there are hundreds of reports of personswithout roofs and even these persons are lucky as manyperson's homes have been leveledy storm-surge.According to the damage assetment thus far, inClarendon 56 per cent of houses were destroyed.Housing in St. Catherine and Kingston and St. Andrewalso sustained major damage of 30 and 14 per centrespectively.107 schools sustained serious damage.Three persons have died resulting from the passage of Hurricane Dean.A lady was looking through her window during theHurricane ,When a large piece of wood flew through herwindow ,piercing her in her chest.A man's house was leveled by the strong winds andwhen residents removed the debris they found him dead.A 15 year old girl was killed,Before the hurricane herneighbors put building block on their roofs to keepthe Hurricane from taking the roofs,During theHurricane, the winds blew the building blocks off theneighbors roofs onto theirs, the building blocks thenfell through the roof hit the girl in the head shelater died of a skull fracture.The long road to recoveryIt will likely be a long road to recovery,but we are aresilient people and just like Ivan and Gilbert wewill pull together to pick up the pieces.Already,there are reports of the true Jamaican Spiritemerging,person checking on their neighbors peoplehelping people,with most of the traffic lights outpersons being courteous and allowing persons to goahead.The national power company, The Jamaica PublicService (JPSsays about 34 per cent or 190,000 of itscustomers have had their electricity restored. The light and power company says only four parisheshave not started to receive electricity.Those parishes are St. Mary, Portland, St. Thomas andSt. Elizabeth.The company says this is due to the extent of thedamage to its power delivery systems.But the Company says water pumping facilities andhospitals in these parishes will receive priorityattention today.The national water company has been ,less successfuland is still struggling to bring its water supplysystems back on line, the National Water Commission(NWCsays it is trucking water to several communitiesacross the island free of cost.A cargo plane with relief supplies valuing US$398,000(J$27.86 million) arrived in the island yesterday fromthe United States to assist persons affected byHurricane Dean.The relief supplies, which were donated by the UnitedStates Agency for International Development (USUSAIDinclude water containers, medicine, plastic sheeting,and disaster hygiene kits, among other items.U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica, Brenda LaLaGrangeohnson,who received the supplies, which arrived in a whiteair cargo plane at the Norman Manley InternationalAirport, said US$150,000 (J$10 million) of the goodswould be allocated to non-governmentalororganisationsNGNGOs $1.7 million (US$25,000) for theOffice of Disaster Preparedness and EmergencyManagement and another US$100,000 ($6.9 million) ofthe supplies would be sent to the Pan American HealthOrOrganisation"We are so happy to make this start and we hope thatthis is (only) the beginning," she said.Ronald Jackson, director general of the ODODPEMwhoaccepted the supplies, said they would be distributedto the worst affected areas, such as Portland Cottageand Rocky Point in Clarendon; Old HaHarbouray in St.Catherine and Caribbean Terrace, Kingston."These items will go a far way in addressing thosepriority needs that we have identified in thesecommunities," he said.Focusing on the prioritiesMr. Jackson also appealed to persons who have beenaffected to be patient. He said the agency would befocusing on the priorities, which he has identified asroofing. He said more than 1,500 roofs were affectedin three parishes on the south coast.Meanwhile, Mr. Jackson said that some 2,500 personswere still in shelters. He said the supplies would bedistributed through the NGNGOssuch as Salvation Armyand the Adventist Relief Agency.Ambassador LaLaGrangeohnson said former ambassadors toJamaica, Sue Cobb, Glen Holden and herself, would bedonating $60,000 to begin a private fund with theMissionaries of the Poor and the American Friends ofJamaica to provide food and shelter to more than 1,000families that lost their homes during the storm.It was announced that $1 million jaja4,520 USUSDasbeen allocated by the government to assist parisheshardest hit by the hurricane while $500,000 (7,260ususdwill go to other parishes.My prayers go out to all who were affect by HurricaneDean.Below:pictures from across the Island from variousmedia sources Gleaner,Star,Observer etc. __________________________________________________ __________________________________Building a website is a piece of cake. Yahoo! Small Business gives you all the tools to get online.http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting

Some random information:

All hotels and attractions in the Ocho Rios area are up and running

In MoBay, two resorts are still repairing damage. All others are open.

The main roads from Ocho Rios to Montego Bay and Negril are all clear.

Many Jamaican residents are, however, still without power and water service... Over half as of yesterday.

Originally Posted by canarymoon

All hotels and attractions in the Ocho Rios area are up and running.

Special thanks for the Ocho Rios info!

We try harder.