Nadine Thompson surveys the damage to her home and yard after heavy rains on September 19
KINGSTON, Jamaica — A resident of Trafalgar Park in New Kingston says she has lost everything after her home was inundated with water from a nearby gully on Friday when heavy rains lashed the island.
“We heard a roaring sound, and when we looked, we just saw water just rushing in, rushing inside, break the glass door, start to lick over stuff… I don’t even know how I’m standing here today,” Nadine Thompson told Observer Online.
“It was really, really bad. The bedroom, everywhere is in a mess, everywhere. And you can see all the furniture and stuff outside,” she explained, showing the mud spattered interior of her house.
Thompson blames a neighbouring apartment complex built near the gully for the overflow which she says has never happened before on her property, though her neighbour previously lost a retaining wall.
“Because of the apartment that’s there, they block it off, so the gully’s right there. It changed the route. When the rain falls, it no have nowhere to run, so it just blocks up behind me,” she said.
Added Thompson: “The [owners] know about it. And then [there’s another] apartment there, [owned by] the same people, so they block us in. [Hurricane] Gilbert came and all of that, and nothing ever happened. It’s since the apartment that they put up behind us. That’s why it happened.”
Thompson explained that she was forced to seek other accommodation to sleep on Friday because the house was uninhabitable, and says her loss is significant.
“Everything is gone. It lick weh the car, mash up the car. There’s another two-bedroom here on the property…mash up. The amount of debris around the back… logs, desks and tables— the whole gully is in my house. The entire gully is in my house and in my yard,” she said.
The homeowner said it was too early to estimate the cost of the damage to her home, but stressed that everything had been damaged in some way.