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Nearly a year after Hurricane Beryl ravaged the island, residents of southwestern St Elizabeth say the pain and destruction still linger.

In communities like Southfield, many are just beginning to patch up their lives and their homes as another hurricane season threatens to undo the little progress they've made. When THE STAR rolled through parts of the parish last week, it was clear that the scars left by Beryl are far from healed. In Top Hill, twisted zinc sheets hung precariously in a cell tower, apparently blown from a nearby building during the storm last July. On the ground, farmlands lay mostly barren or overrun with stubborn weeds, while shuttered businesses bore silent testimony to livelihoods lost.

In Southfield, 76-year-old Lurline Vassell stood outside her home and pointed solemnly to a gaping hole in the roof, a wound Beryl tore open months ago.

"This is Southfield, mi born and grow here," she said. "The whole a this was zinc, and all of it tear down completely. Mi just buy some material fi fix it and a take mi time because the whole place did mash up."

She's not alone. Dozens of families across the region still live in damaged houses, some relying on tarpaulins or makeshift covers to protect open parts of their homes.

"Oh gosh man, it take a while for a lot of people," Vassell sighed. "Businesses mash down, people house tear down and still nuh fix yet. South really get it, it was worse here than anywhere else. Even the fruit trees dem tear down, is now dem just start grow and bear back."

Hurricane Beryl, a Category 2 storm when it swept across Jamaica, brought torrential rain, destructive winds and widespread flooding. St Elizabeth, particularly the southern belt, was among the hardest-hit parishes, with farms flattened and entire roofs peeled off homes like sardine tins. The Planning Institute of Jamaica estimated that the hurricane cost Jamaica $32 billion in damage. Agriculture, mining, tourism, and infrastructure services experienced the greatest impact.

Now, with the 2025 hurricane season officially under way as of June 1, and running until November 30, anxiety hangs thick in the air like a storm cloud refusing to move.

"We can't manage nothing like Beryl right now, mi a pray say none nuh come a Jamaica, 'cause we just start recover. We don't know what we would do if that supposed to happen."

As the country braces for what forecasters predict could be an active season - between 13 and 19 named storms, residents like Vassell are clinging to faith and inching their way back to normal, but remain fearful of what the hurricane season will bring.