MONTEGO BAY, St James — Fallen trees were a major problem in St James in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl which lashed the parish for hours on Wednesday.

An amputee and a blind man are among those whose houses were damaged during the severe weather event, while inhabitants of one house in Granville escaped injury though a tree fell in the middle of their dwelling.

But even before the heavy damage began, a woman from Sunvalley Road in Montego Bay was injured when a piece of zinc fell on her. This happened about 2:45 Wednesday afternoon. Firefighters took her to the hospital for medical care.

On Thursday several communities within the parish struggled to cope without electricity and downed power lines were seen in Paradise and Tucker. On the stretch of road from Fairfield to Bogue, none of the traffic lights worked.

The popular Fairview shopping mall was deserted, littered with fallen leaves from palm trees that line the sidewalks. The Rubis gas station at MegaMart was still shuttered, like many other business places in the city, and there were long lines at the Texaco gas station as motorists tried to fill up on petrol.