Anastasia Cunningham, News Coordinator

LONG BAY, Portland:

RESIDENTS OF Long Bay in west Portland have experienced a lot of hurricanes and natural disasters. Situated on the parish's coastline, the town isn't usually spared by mother nature's wrath that passes that way. But one thing they agree on, Hurricane Sandy "did little, but she tallawah".

Seventy-seven-year-old Desmond Patterson was sitting at home listening to the howls of the wind last week Wednesday afternoon when he heard a loud rumble.

"When I look up, I just see my roof start lift off like someone was taking it off," he shared with The Gleaner.

"It was the longest I ever see a hurricane last. Is like it just sit there on each house with patience for hours and wouldn't move till it do what it came to do and then move to the next house."

Patterson said after the roof of his three-bedroom house blew away, so much water came pouring in, he had to run to his neighbour's house, where he has been staying since last week. Everything inside his house was soaked and damaged.

"Can you believe that in the middle of the hurricane when people losing them roof, people out there stealing all the zinc? Boy, a tell you," the retiree stated, shaking his head.

No one would believe that the popular Sweet Daddy's Restaurant once stood in its spot across from Portland's picturesque seashore. The well-liked eatery that has had people travelling for miles to enjoy its delightful cuisine was now just piles of board and zinc resting on a concrete foundation.

Over by Gladys Stewart's Black River shop and bar, men were hard at work replacing the roof. Her home behind the property also lost its roof, but concrete blocks held down sheets of zinc to shield her family from the elements.

"The wind just come een like a whirlwind. When mi look up mi roof just start to lift and the whole sky white," she shared.

"Thirty years mi right here and been through a lot of disasters, but this one was bad!"

anastasia.cunningham@gleanerjm.com