Living on the edge of disaster - River continues to erode homes in Seaforth community

Persons stood in silence at the edge of what was once their yard, watching muddy water churn violently below as the Johnson River continued to claw away at the land beneath their feet early Sunday morning.

On Black Smith Lane in Seaforth, St Thomas, members of one extended family, some clutching children, others staring fixedly at the river, could do little more than watch as floodwaters cut off sections of the community and threatened the homes they have lived in all their lives.

Residents said they had been awake since about 3 a.m., alerted by the familiar smell and sound that signals the river surging downstream from the hills. By daylight, at least three households had already been damaged or washed away, marking the third flooding incident in the area since Hurricane Melissa passed last October.

"TikTok me deh pan and me smell the mud. Me seh 'no man how it smell like the river a come dung so?' When me look, a it that and the water high up, so like it did a go come over fi flood we out," one resident recalled.

The flooding occurred amid a flash flood watch for low-lying and flood-prone areas of St Mary, Portland, St Thomas, Kingston and St Andrew, St Catherine, Clarendon and Manchester, effective until 7 a.m. today. The alert follows the passage of a broad trough across the central Caribbean that has been producing moderate to heavy showers and thunderstorms since Saturday night, particularly over central and eastern parishes.

As rainfall continued on Sunday, residents along Black Smith Lane said they remained on edge, watching the river closely and bracing for further surges. Fifty-year-old Marcia Francis said her family has lived in the community for generations and has endured repeated losses as the river continues to change course. She pointed to a crooked pit made of blocks near the riverbank, explaining that her brother, Venrick Graham, built it to serve the entire yard after the previous one was destroyed during the hurricane.

"My house is on the other side, and this is my brother house," she said. "All of this was land. The water just come dung and dig up back everything." She gestured toward the river, noting that protective structures known as groins that were once in place were no longer visible, adding that the absence of proper river training has worsened the flooding.

"It used to travel straight against the groin. Once yuh see the rain block up on the hill, yuh start fret because yuh know it ago come dung from the hills," she said.

Her greatest concern, she said, is for Graham, whose home sits closest to the river. During Hurricane Melissa, she recalled that water rushed beneath the structure.

"Yuh could a swim under him house," she said. For Graham, whose two-storey house shelters his four children, seven grandchildren and his partner, the danger feels immediate and constant.

"A basically inna the river me house deh now," he said, pointing to the water eroding the foundation. "See my other sister house deh so? Piece a it a wash off round a the back."

Despite recently spending more than $500,000 to build the pit and using additional funds to reinforce the structure beneath the house, Graham said the river continues to undermine the property with each period of heavy rainfall.

"Is the pit weh me make that keep the house up right now," he said. "The water a beat pon it and boil up." Across from his home, two water tanks that once sat on the pit had to be removed early Sunday morning as the water rose.

"All a dem empty now," he said. "And we know how the water crisis stay. Yuh affi ketch it and store it, but everything gone." He said living in the area means constant vigilance.

"Yuh affi sleep and watch," Graham said. "When yuh see the rain, yuh know seh the place loose."

Francis said the repeated flooding has taken a visible emotional toll on the children, some of whom panicked and clung to adults as the river surged through the area. She said she struggled to reassure them, recalling how the water topped the community during last year's hurricane.

"Even though me nuh know if a the same thing ago happen, me still affi tell them no, anno like that," she said.

Councillor for the Seaforth division Sheroo Stephens said she has alerted the relevant authorities, including the National Works Agency (NWA) and the member of parliament (MP).

"The NWA representative told me that the necessary persons have been contacted and they will be visiting the area on Monday (today) to look at it and see what can be done," she said, adding that the assessment would determine what immediate and longer-term interventions are possible.