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Although Althea Wright knew that there was little chance of finding her grandson Chad Allen alive after he was washed away in the Sandy Gully in May, she still prayed for a miracle.

The senior citizen, along with members of her family, searched sections of the gully for days for the missing 32-year-old, but their efforts were futile. However, all hopes of seeing Allen in the land of the living were dashed earlier this month when family members were called to identify a body that was washed up in the vicinity of the Causeway Bridge in Portmore, St Catherine. The remains were identified as Allen's and his loved ones are crushed.

When THE STAR team visited Wright at her home in Drewsland, St Andrew, she had just returned from a counselling session. She stated that she is still overcome with grief.

"Mi never go look on his body because mi never want to remember him that way. Right now, a counselling mi a come from because mi really sad. Because him dead, mi have to go talk to a counsellor. Mi did just a hope say him did alive and deh somewhere, but right now, the family a prepare fi him funeral. Mi nuh really memba di funeral date but is in July," she said.

As she spoke with the news team, a group of men stopped to offer their condolences and words of encouragement. The image of Allen being washed away by the raging floodwaters remains fresh and raw in her mind. Allen was reportedly standing in the gully when the floodwaters descended and took him away.

"I saw him being washed away and he had his hands in the air like he was just asking me to help him. I really miss him," she said.