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(Jamaica Gleaner)Hurricane Melissa tore through Jamaica’s western parishes yesterday, leaving behind widespread destruction, catastrophic flooding, and crippling infrastructure damage in what officials are calling the most powerful storm ever to hit the island. Making landfall near New Hope, Westmoreland, around noon, as a Category 5 hurricane, Melissa dumped more than 30 inches of rain across sections of the island. Ferocious winds toppled power lines, uprooted trees, and ripped roofs from homes and public buildings, damaging at least four hospitals in its wake. By late Tuesday, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness declared Jamaica a disaster area under the Disaster Risk Management Act, while Commerce Minister Senator Aubyn Hill, invoking Section 8(1) of the Trade Act, moved to regulate trade, supplies, and prices amid the crisis. “The Government’s first priority is always the safety and well-being of every Jamaican,” Holness said in a statement issued to the media. “ … We must also continue to proactively maintain stability, protect consumers, and prevent any exploitation at a time when citizens are securing food, water, and supplies.” He said these orders give the Government the tools to continue managing its response to Hurricane Melissa. More than 500,000 households were left without electricity as the storm moved northward, while nearly 6,000 people sought refuge in shelters across the island – many rescued in last-minute operations by emergency teams. In Mandeville, Manchester, floodwaters blocked the main gate to the Mandeville Regional Hospital, while sections of the Black River Hospital in St Elizabeth and the Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital in Westmoreland lost their roofs. Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton confirmed additional damage to the nurses’ quarters at Cornwall Regional Hospital in St James and parts of the Noel Holmes Hospital in Hanover. In Black River, St Elizabeth, entire communities were shredded by Melissa’s destructive winds. The devastation followed warnings from Evan Thompson, principal director of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, that the area was at risk of severe storm surge, with the eye of the system at that time projected to pass over it. Video footage from the region showed roofless homes, flattened trees, and tangled power lines strewn across the coastline. SEVERAL HOUSES FLOODED In Mandeville, several houses in the vicinity of Ward Avenue were flooded, with water rising to the roofs of two-storey homes. In a video circulating on social media, the content of which The Gleaner has since verified, firefighters were recorded rescuing the occupants of one of the houses as other residents looked on. Across eastern Westmoreland, homes were stripped of roofs and battered by torrential rains. Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie confirmed widespread flooding, landslides, and severe infrastructural damage in Westmoreland, St Elizabeth, Manchester, and Clarendon. By press time, cell service in these areas had been severely disrupted, leaving families elsewhere unable to contact loved ones. Telecommunications Minister Daryl Vaz reported earlier on Tuesday that 26 per cent of Digicel Jamaica’s mobile customers and 20 per cent of its fibre-to-home customers were offline due to power failures. In the island’s eastern parishes, which experienced tropical storm conditions, Melissa also left its mark. In St Thomas, residents of Bath banded together to rescue neighbours threatened by the raging Plantain Garden River, which swept away at least one vehicle. At a press briefing last evening, officials urged Jamaicans and visitors to remain sheltered, even as Melissa weakened slightly to a Category 4 hurricane. “We’re not in the clear as yet,” said Rohan Brown, manager of weather services at the Meteorological Service of Jamaica. HURRICANE-FORCE WINDS TO PERSIST Brown said hurricane-force winds would persist across parts of St James, Trelawny, St Ann, and Hanover, while the rest of the island would continue to experience tropical storm conditions and gusty winds. “We’re expecting scattered showers, thunderstorms, heavy rainfall to continue primarily over St James, Hanover, Westmoreland, St Elizabeth, sections of St Ann and then light to moderate showers at times over the rest of the island … ,” he said. The centre of Melissa moved offshore late Tuesday along a projected path toward Cuba, he confirmed. The Government has since launched the Hurricane Melissa Relief Fund website at supportjamaica.gov.jm under the banner ‘Rebuilding Lives. Restoring Hope’.
