Cave Valley residents count losses after devastating flood
Published:Friday | October 31, 2025 | 12:08 AMKaren Madden/Gleaner Writer
Gloom mixed with resilience hung over Cave Valley, St Ann, as residents and business owners struggled to come to terms with the devastation left behind after the Cave River burst its banks during Hurricane Melissa. The floodwaters dumped thousands of gallons into the small town near the Clarendon border, disrupting lives and livelihoods.
Days later, a farm store in the town’s centre remained almost completely submerged, while other buildings were still surrounded by standing water. High-water marks on walls and debris piled in streets told the story of a community overwhelmed – the town market, gas station, supermarket, and several homes had all been completely flooded.
Hugh Johnson, owner of the gas station and several nearby businesses, said the flooding was unlike anything Cave Valley had ever seen.
“In the heights of the flood, the water was on top of the gas station building. This is something we have never seen in all the years Cave Valley has been flooded. This is my fourth time looking at Cave Valley being flooded, and this is the highest it has ever come, right. But we took the precaution based on the weatherman saying we were going to get about four feet of rain from the system, so most of the individuals who had business there they move out everything,” he told The Gleaner., saying that the water was about 20 to 25 feet deep.
He compared the disaster to the 1951 Charlie storm, recalling that even areas that had never flooded before were submerged.
Total loss
Robert Chen, owner of Lyn Chen Better Best Hardware, estimated millions in losses.
“We just get some things; the place just start stock out. I just went in (Thursday), and everything was, basically, total loss. The water went all the way to the ceiling, turned over counters, everything – lumber, solitex, weh just come in couple bundles well gone. Lot a money. Cyah estimate. Couple millions well.”
At P & S Meat Mart, which had been open for just a year, owner Delana Heath said his freezers and stock were completely destroyed.
“Pig, goat, chicken, fish, pork, pig tail, mixed parts, rice, flour, sugar, everything you can think of in a supermarket. Whole heap a money, man, probably over half a million or more. We cyah get to guh to it, fi plug in no generator, suh wi a guh lose the whole a di meat. Mi feel bad, you know, ‘cause to know that we just start and everything a guh go to a loss, mi feel bad. Wi have the receipt fi the tings weh wi buy, but Cave Valley cyah insure because it’s a flood area, but a di first mi ever see it come suh high.”
Nearby, Annmarie Rose of Rose Auto Parts had begun the painstaking cleanup.
“Well as you can see, [it’s] very traumatising, and it is affecting me very, very bad. I came down Monday morning no rain and then Tuesday, the rain started when I was at home. I am trying to wash the stuff. We have to see how the area going to look. We have to clean it up, and everything like that, before we can even go back to that (resume business), but is a heavy loss. It is a big loss.”
For some residents, the impact went beyond business. Eighty-year-old Adolphus McNaughton said his house was still half-filled with water.
“Mi nah no weh fi sleep now, inuh. Mi lose everything, mi fridge, everything. Mi a 80-odd now, and a di first water weh mi see come down heavy suh,” he told The Gleaner. “Mi a beg likkle help dis time because mi nave nuh weh fi sleep. A borrow mi borrow money and buy 12 sheets a solitex and plyboard. Mi a fi guh tek off dem deh again, and mi nah nuh help.”
The residents are hopeful that by the end of the week, the water will recede enough for them to access the town for clean up and to salvage what they can.