Irish family: We are counting our blessings

AN Irish family living in Jamaica are 'counting their blessings' after emerging relatively unscathed after Hurricane Melissa raged through the island.

- BY NICOLA DONNELLY

But Dubliners Orlagh Kilbride, her husband Neil O'Hanlon and their sons remain concerned for the many residents who suffered severe damage and those who 'lost almost everything.'

Orlagh, 45, Neil, 50, and two of their three sons Max, 16, and Blake, 12, who have lived in Jamaica for nearly ten years, were fearing the worst as the hurricane hit on Tuesday and into Tuesday night.

Their eldest son, Evan, 20, remains in Ireland at college.

Speaking from her home in the island's capital of Kingston yesterday afternoon, Orlagh told this paper that while her family's home survived, much of the island suffered severe damage.