Murray’s Village feels Ivan’s fury

Hurricane Ivan, packing winds of 135 miles per hour, smashed a number of homes in the Murray’s Village area Tuesday, leaving several families displaced and/or inconvenienced.{{more}}
When SEARCHLIGHT visited the area Wednesday morning, there were mixed feelings about the Category 4 hurricane.
“It was about after 4 p.m. when I wake up and I see the house look strange. I looked and saw the galvanise missing. I grabbed cushions and put them in a plastic bag. I locked myself up in a bedroom because I was coward, I was frightened. It was my first experience,” said resident Michelle Ledger, whose house roof was partly torn.
Asked if she sought refuge as a result of the damage to her roof, Ledger replied, “I didn’t go anywhere. My neighbour told me I could come and stay by them, but I didn’t go.”
Ledger also said that after she heard of the approaching hurricane she left her three-year-old son at his grandfather’s at McKie’s Hill.
The former Sandy Bay resident said she received help from neighbours and her landlord’s son in cleaning her living room and bedroom, which were rain-soaked.
But while Ledger expressed fright, fellow villager, Dawn Browne, said she remained a brave heart while her house was being lifted and tossed aside by Ivan around 1.45 p.m. Tuesday.
“It wasn’t a bad feeling. We didn’t lose anything. I just want to give God praise and thanks. It was something I was expecting. I was there standing in front the door and I saw it. The electrical wire and metre were torn from the wall and the fascia board and galvanise and everything went together.”
Browne, who lived with her mother and nephew, said she began bracing for the hurricane Monday night, moving household items to the ground floor. She said it was the first time she was so affected by a hurricane.