Marvanine Anderson lies on a mattress as she tries to comfort her seven-year-old son Khalique Campbell, who she says is still haunted by the memories of Hurricane Melissa. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)
LYING on a mattress in front of what’s left of her Hurricane Melissa-battered home, Marvanine Anderson held her seven-year-old son, Khalique Campbell, who is still traumatised after the storm destroyed his bedroom and left their house in Retrieve, Hanover, balancing on columns that threaten to give way at any moment.
For 24 hours after the weather system made landfall last month they huddled in the kitchen of their half-concrete, half-wooden house, listening as a gush of water from a culvert ran down the hillside and started to erode sections of their land.
In the darkness they heard pieces of zinc banging against the house, while some took flight in the hurricane-force winds which also took precious items they’d bought over the years with it.
As the wind howled and the structure shook, Anderson said she held her son as he cried and questioned when the nightmare would end.
“He is still sayin
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