MORANT BAY, St Thomas — A shortage of resources affected a number of the emergency shelters in St Thomas during the passage of Hurricane Beryl last week, sparking calls for the matter to be given urgent attention.

During Thursday’s first meeting of the St Thomas Municipal Corporation since the hurricane last Wednesday, chief public health inspector for the parish Pauline Ellington indicated that her team had assessed the shelters before the hurricane with 44 approved and four deemed unfit.

While that announcement caused raised eyebrows it was the indication from Parish Disaster Coordinator Martina Medley that there was a shortage of resources at the opened shelters that caused the most concern.

“During the period I was able to do some distributions; however, I was not able to get the needed resources on time,” said Medley.

She added that she has been working hard to use the limited resources available and ensured that the shelter managers were trained and equipped.

In the meantime, Pansy Murphy, manager of the shelter which was opened at the Port Morant Primary and Junior High School, told the councillors that conditions there were deplorable due to insufficient resources and a lack of food.

She recounted instances where residents had no place to sleep and got wet due to leaky roofs.

“There was this elderly man who had to sit up on the tough bench the entire night who ended up messing up himself. I called for a police vehicle to transport him home after the hurricane, but the tyres were punctured.

“I had to call my grandson to bring a garbage bag from my home to cover the seat of a taxi and use my own money, $1,500, to take him,” said Murphy.

That prompted Councillor Andrea Patience (Jamaica Labour Party, Llandewey Division) to call for resources to be stockpiled in advance of the hurricane season.

“We should not wait until there is a natural disaster to search for these resources, such as tarpaulins. We should have a storeroom for these things,” said Patience.

Deputy Mayor Michael McLeod (Jamaica Labour Party, Dalvey Division), who was chairing the meeting in the absence of Mayor Louis Chin, underscored that residents should not be at the shelters without any food.

He said he spoke with the principal of Dalvey Primary who gave the go-ahead to use the school’s kitchen, “so these people should have gotten their meals”.

McLeod agreed with other members that there should be a sense of urgency in addressing these issues and that they should not act only when there is an emergency.

Earlier McLeod found himself in the firing line as councillors were upset at his inability to give an explanation for the absence of the mayor.

“I am yet to see a proper press briefing informing the people of the parish, so this is unacceptable to just send an apology without any valid reason,” said Councillor Hubert Williams (People’s National Party, White Horses Division).

St Thomas was spared the worst of the Category 4 hurricane but residents still experienced flooding while strong winds damaged buildings and farm produce.

Andrea Patience (Jamaica Labour Party, Llandewey Division) telling Thursday’s meeting of the St Thomas Municipal Corporation that the parish should not wait until it’s too late to stockpile emergency supplies.