I still cant get through to Irie Rest on the phone, not even to Lennie´s cell phone, although this IS ringing......
has anyone an explanation for that ? I believe that the land line is still unreliable, but what about the digicell mobile, it is ringing... and I can get through to other people with cell phone....
If you know anything about Lennie´s whereabouts, please let me know.... Thanks !

The land line phones for Billy's Bay are still down. Digicel phones are working. I just spoke with someone who lives near Irie Rest and they say Lenny and Irie Rest are all okay. His roof is made of cement so it held during the storm.

Rebecca thank you so much. So I don´t need to try the land line again, but with the cell I´m still unsuccessful.May I ask if Billy´s Bay has electricity back ?And is the road to Black River via Fort Charles passable ?? Thanks so much !

The road from Black River through Ft. Charles is passable, however, I have not travelled it yet. The main road in Billy's Bay has electricity, but I am not sure of individual places since many of us had our lines ripped off of our houses.

each time I ring his cell , I get the connection, it´s ringing a few times and then I get the message " No xxxx can´t take your call now, you can leave a message after the tone,.... the tone never comes so I have to hang up... any explanation for that ? As far as I know it´s a Digicell phone....
Thanks again

oookay, thanks again.... I finally got through !!

Susi, sometimes it's just the way the system is working. If it's overloaded, you'll get all kinds of problems. Sometimes it rings 3 times and then gives a busy signal. Sometimes they tell me the # is not in sevice.
I just keep dialling. Don't wait. just keep dialling and eventually you'll get thru. It may take anywhere from 2 - 7 tries.

Kate is right. Some times if you persist you get thru. Though, there have been times when I can't thru for a day or 2.

Some places are still without electricity and if you don't have a car charger and your battery is dead then you won't be able to receive calls.

I saw Lenny at Irie Rest yesterday. He was involved in a car accident and was banged up pretty hard with lots of bumps and bruises, but is doing okay, although very sore. His car is totalled.

Irie Rest received some water damage, but all minor and they lost some trees, but are up and running again.

Thanks Rebecca for this info. I have already heared about the accident, but when I spoke to him on Thu night everything had been okay. The accident happened last Friday, Thank God he´s okay !! I wonder what´s gonna happen without the car...?!
... enough negative things have happened recently......I hope Jah will give them a break now....

Lennie,

So sorry to hear about your accident. I hope your feeling better. Take care. (JD)

OF COURSE THE WEATHER IS NOT UNDER OUR COMMAND, BUT I'M WONDERING HOW MUCH WARNING RESIDENTS HAD OF THE IMPENDING STORM & WHAT MEASURES THE COMMUNITY CAN TAKE TO LESSEN FUTURE LOSS/DAMAGE ?!

I was kinda wondering the same thing.

My daughter and I were reasoning last week about what sort of houses could withstand a hurricane of any caliber. For instance, the "A frame" house was built to withstand large amounts of snow, the adobe's function is coolness in the desert. I wonder if because of the eratication of the indiginious Jamaicans, (the Arawak Indians)by the Columbus family, perhaps there was once suitable housing capable of withstanding these caribbean storms. I wonder what they looked like!

Here are some modern day Hurricane proof houses...

http://www.cinemaweb.com/jasonforrest/gallery%20pages/house.html

http://www.tellmewhereonearth.com/Web%20Pages/Latest%20Travels/Latest%20Travels% 20Photos/hurricane%20house%20thumb.jpg

:o)

I have been conducting my own survey based on what I have been seeing. The roof that seemed to withstand the best was the 'hip roof' or the 4 sided roof. Either that or the cement roof. What we did not have here that they had in Grenada is cement walls collapsing (other than the older houses with no steel in the walls). The new construction houses always include plenty of steel reinforcements which makes them much stronger.

You've gotta remember, the winds were 150 - 170 mph and were at us for about 10 hours, so any roof would have a hard time withstanding that!

I think this is a very important question to ask, and certainly it is a good time to access which roof would be best when building, etc. Thanks for bringing it up.