‘I’m homeless now’
Alligator Pond resident distraught after house tumbles into sea
Published:Thursday | October 30, 2025 | 12:16 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
Betty-Lyn Brown struggled to hold back tears as she recounted the horror she experienced on Tuesday when Hurricane Melissa tore through her coastal community in Alligator Pond, Manchester.
The 60-year-old clothes vendor watched in disbelief as a wave nearly 20 feet high crashed over her two-bedroom home, dragging it into the sea.
“When mi look, di sea come over – nearly 20 feet it come ova pon mi. Mi haffi run when mi see di house a gweh. Mi grab mi likkle grandbaby and run,” she said.
“I’m homeless now,” she told The Gleaner.
Brown, who has lived in the house her entire life, said she had weathered many storms there before, but none like this.
“First inna mi life. Mi have baby born inna [Hurricane] Gilbert … . This a di worst one wa come ya suh,” she said.
The Category 5 hurricane barrelled through Jamaica on Tuesday, dumping more than 30 inches of rain across sections of the island. Ferocious winds toppled power lines, uprooted trees, and ripped roofs from homes and public buildings.
Still visibly shaken, Brown said her past experiences with storms led her to believe she didn’t need to evacuate, and she also wanted to stay to protect her property.
“Mi deh too far from it (the sea). Mi neva know seh it wudda come up suh far. It come up too quick,” she said.
After the scare of her life, losing her bed and clothes in the process, Brown said that while she hopes for help to rebuild, the ordeal has taught her not to do so this close to the sea.
“Mi nah come back ya suh; mi nuh wah back ya suh. Mi nuh feel seh mi a come back ya suh. If mi deh ya so long and it come damage dis ya one ya, a sign; it a show wi seh wi fi move from the seaside,” she reasoned.
Michel Samuels, another resident of Alligator Pond, was luckier – her two-bedroom house survived the storm. The winds uprooted her fence and caused some minor leaks, but she said she could fix the damage. The emotional toll, however, was harder to bear.
“I feel this whole house just vibrating,” she recalled.
FILLED WITH REGRET
Samuels had been encouraged to evacuate before the storm, but she chose to stay. Now, she regrets that decision.
“I am a Christian person and I put my trust in God, even though in these times, I’m taking the risk with my life. But I did, and I got an experience that I never, never want to experience again, because right now my body is under total shock,” she said.
Considering herself and two children lucky, she is urging Jamaicans to heed future warnings to leave their community when a hurricane is coming.
“Sometimes bravery doesn’t make it. Safety is the key to life, protection. You have to protect yourself. Take heed when you get that advice to move ... . The sea could have come and captured all of us,” she said.
In the flood-prone community, only one resident evacuated ahead of the storm.
On Tuesday, Mandeville Mayor Donovan Mitchell reported that 26 shelters had been set up across the parish, with 200 people seeking refuge.
Sharon Johnson, another resident, had initially refused to leave her house. She wanted to stay and protect her property, but as the storm intensified, she had no choice but to seek shelter at a neighbour’s house.
“Yuh wah fi see mi. A duck mi a duck like when dem a shoot after yuh, ‘cause mi a watch fi see if no zinc a come lick mi or anything; ‘cause dem seh when storm, yuh nuh suppose to go outside,” she said.
She watched helplessly from her neighbour’s house as her zinc roof lifted off her house. Luckily, she had covered her appliances, including a TV she had received as a birthday gift.
“A it (TV) mi a fret pon, ‘cause mi lately get it fi mi birthday, suh mi did a fret pon it,” she said.
Yesterday morning, she, her husband Cleon Banton, and a family friend hurried to repair their roof to shield the house from rainfall that was forecast to follow Hurricane Melissa.
Still, Johnson said she will need help to fully recover from the damage.
“Mi wah dem come come see it, ‘cause di last time (Hurricane Beryl, last year) mi fi get help, and all now dem nuh come, so right now mi a beg help; mi a plea,” she said.