Damaged belongings of residents of Burger Gully in Mountain View, St Andrew are left outside Saturday, after heavy rains on Friday
ST ANDREW, Jamaica — Mountain View residents are blaming inaction from authorities for the destruction of their homes and businesses after a gully in the area overflowed Friday evening.
“Mi tiad! Mi literally tiad,” said one woman, with tears streaming down her face. “Mi talk to them, mi beg them before it reach this stage, before the gully wall burst. We beg unuh, fix the gully, because mi know this a come,” she lamented.
The resident, who did not give her name, was one of several from the community who had had their homes inundated with mud and debris carried by raging flood waters from the nearby Burger Gully during heavy rains on Friday.
When Observer Online arrived in the area on Saturday residents were still sweeping out mud and picking up the pieces after the disaster, which damaged electronic items, beds and clothing, among other items.
“Right now if you see my conditions, mi tired to live like this, I used to rescue the people on the [other side] I can’t rescue nobody again, I need rescue myself. That’s the second washing machine [gone] Mi tiad , I have no husband, I’m not working.”
The woman explained that the water had been so high, it was almost to the window, and she eventually had to crawl out of it to escape.
“Everything I have to make a life for myself going down the drain,” she said, breaking down.
The resident maintained that despite promises of assistance from the government after similar experiences in 2024, nothing had been forthcoming from the authorities as yet. She also alleged political victimisation.
The woman maintained that her Member of Parliament, Phillip Paulwell of the Opposition People’s National Party, had been lobbying for assistance for some time to no avail.
“We nuh get a dollar, they need to stop playing politics, if this was a labourite [Jamaica Labour Party] stronghold place it would fix long time and mi nah hold down mi mouth and say it,” she said.
A resident demonstrates the height of the muddy water that swept into their homes in Burger Gully, Mountain View on Friday