Hundreds of residents in Jamaica’s southern and western parishes have been left homeless following the passage of Hurricane Melissa, which ripped through the island earlier this week leaving scenes of utter devastation.
The storm made landfall as a Category 5 system, battering Jamaica’s central and western parishes with destructive winds and torrential rain and left widespread power outages, flooded roads, and heavy damage to public buildings and homes.
Across St Elizabeth, one of the hardest-hit parishes, roofs have been torn off, houses flattened, and entire communities submerged under floodwaters. Many residents are now trying to salvage what little remains of their homes.
Among them is Rosemarie Palmer of Williamsfield, who was seen standing in her yard on Saturday as neighbours helped remove a large tree that had crashed through her roof.
“Tuesday morning, the place flood out and I climbed on the bed in the corner,” she told Barbados TODAY. “After I climbed on the bed, the tree drop down and hit me through the zinc. I was trying to call police emergency and doctor and not getting through, a God save me. When it kinda ease down, I go over my neighbour yard. But I’m still having the pain in my head.”
Water marks along her walls showed how high the floodwaters had risen.
“I was nervous, frightened, and I say — a drown mi a go drown now — but God help. It nuh easy. I want the tree to come off and I can’t get no help because mi nuh have no money,” she said quietly.
One of her neighbours, Lincoln Foster, also lost his home in the storm.
“I was home [during the hurricane], but it started to leak. The zinc blow off, and you know what them say, when it blow off, you not getting it back,” he said. “All mi mattress dem wet up, them nuh good.”
Foster said he is now staying with relatives but longs to return home.
“I am stressed because I don’t at my own place right now. Although I’m by family, I don’t like to live outside my own place, because today everything good and tomorrow a different thing,” he said, adding that he hopes the government will offer assistance. (SM)
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