Hurricane Dean survivors happy to be home

The parish is located in the southeastern end of Jamaica where Hurricane Dean roared through at category-four strength.

Dean killed at least 12 people in the Caribbean, uprooting trees, flooding roads and ripping off roofs in Jamaica.

“The winds reached full force between 10 a.m. and noon,” said Tim Owen. Close to a dozen of Angela Owen’s family members stuck out the storm in one home where winds gusting to 140 mph threatened to tear off the zinc sheeted roof and expose them to heavy rain and flying debris.

“You could see it coming across the sea and you knew it was going to hit big time. The sky turned right purple,” said Tim Owen.

He says the sea washed the pavement away on many roads and that power poles were knocked down.

The hurricane devastated the fruit plantations, ripping bananas, ackee (the national fruit of Jamaica) and breadfruit from branches.

“When we were in the house you could hear the breadfruit slamming on the roof of the house. They’re heavy. They probably weight four or five pounds each,” said Owen.

“You’d open the door a few inches and see nothing but debris. The air was just full of debris - trees, limbs, zinc…”

In the afternoon, the sun came out and it became very hot.

Angela Owen says the storm wasn’t as bad as the one she experienced in the late 1980s, Hurricane Gilbert. Power wasn’t restored for close to two months after that hurricane.

“This storm was nothing,” she said.

The Owen’s returned to Nova Scotia on Aug. 19. They say they’re thankful they missed the looting that took place in Kingston.