Rats torment senior citizen after Melissa

Standing among scores of people outside the gates of the Beeston Spring community centre in Westmoreland on Tuesday, Carol Miller wore a face of despondency.

As some around her feasted on boxed meals from World Central Kitchen - provided to victims of Hurricane Melissa - all she could do was inhale the aroma. Miller, who is in her early 70s, said once again her 'foot was short' and the food had run out on her after she had walked for more than an hour from her Bog community to get a plate.

"The young people dem run like lightning and the bike man dem ride off gone go collect, so none for me. Food done pon mi again today. Saturday night mi hear say one truck deh a di four road, but when mi reach the food done and the man ask if mi want clothes. Mi say no a little food mi want," Miller said.

As she wiped away perspiration from her face, Miller said she is not only hungry but homeless. The family homes in Bog were shattered by Hurricane Melissa, and after spending several days under a tarpaulin, she said she has sought refuge at Bog Basic School. But her new 'dwelling' comes with unwanted intruders.

"The air a come in on mi and mi a feel pain so mi take up a mattress and go up by the basic school, but rat woulda kill mi up deh. Rat and mosquito ago kill mi up a Bog Basic School and right now mi a worry say mi may get rat disease," said Miller, referring to leptospirosis.

"There is no door but mi just stay there to take off the rain and night dew off mi. A next man who live next door a stay at the school too. When mi over there, mi feel fraid, but what else to do? Mi daughter buy a tarpaulin to put up in the yard for us but as she a put it up, the breeze just tear it up. Right now a round a mi house side mi a bathe," Miller added.

For her the passage of Melissa was what she imagined Armageddon would be.

"It was a terrible thing eno, and boy I heard about '51 storm and I went through Gilbert, but it wasn't like this. I think the world was coming to an end. After the house blew down, all 11 of us had to go up the hill. But when we go to that house, it blow away too. The entire night I stand up in a little bathroom with the water past mi waist," Miller said.

Westmoreland health department officials have cautioned residents about contracting leptospirosis. They recommend not bathing in stagnant water, storing food in sealed containers, keeping it elevated above flood-prone areas, and discarding any items that may have come into contact with floodwaters.