Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:

Except for damage to plant life and low-income homes, Hurricane Dean passed through western Jamaica on Sunday night without leaving behind the type of destruction many persons had feared.

"Outside of fallen trees, damage to zinc roofs and losses in the agricultural sector, the west pretty much escaped the hurricane," said an official at the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management in Montego Bay.

In St. James, farmers in Vaughsfield and Tangle River suffered some amount of damage to banana and yam cultivations, while in terms of housing stock, several low income homes, especially in inner-city areas such as Canterbury, lost roofs both to fallen trees and the heavy winds.

"We suffered some amount of damage to homes over here, but as you can see, we are not waiting on anyone for help, we are doing the rebuilding ourselves," said Canterbury community activist, Jermaine Samuels. "We have no choice, but to work together so we are doing just that."

In most communities across the parish, there was a strong community spirit as residents, with chainsaws, machetes and hammers, joined forces as they cleared blocked roadways and effect repairs to damaged roofs and zinc fences.

Littered with fallen trees

In Trelawny, areas, such as the parish capital, Falmouth, were littered with fallen trees and broken-down fences alongside a few damaged roofs. However, like their neighbours in St. James, the residents, some of whom openly expressed delight that they had escaped with only minimal damage, were busily doing repairs.

"The houses that suffered roof damage were primarily those that were not properly repaired after hurricanes Gilbert and Ivan and were already shaken up," said Falmouth Mayor, Councillor Jonathan Bartley. "We will be doing whatever we can to assist with the repairs."

The 600 persons from low-lying communities, who were housed at the William Knibb and Holland high schools and Hague Primary, on Sunday, returned home at daybreak when it became obvious to them that the hurricane did not affect their homes.

In Hanover and Westmoreland, the impact was even less pronounced than in Trelawny and St. James as residents claimed that there was very little rain and except for fallen trees, which were quickly cleared up at daybreak, the impact of the hurricane was minimal.