🔗 Share this article

This local leader of the town of Black River – a community referred to as “ground zero” for Hurricane Melissa – has detailed the immense flooding and widespread destruction wrought by the disaster.

Speaking on the traumatic ordeal, the mayor recalled riding out the intense hurricane at an emergency operating centre.

“Our community of this area is in ruins,” he stated. “And that devastation is so severe that the prime minister designated this area as the worst-hit zone.”

Five individuals from the town are reported dead, but Solomon noted receiving word of additional fatalities that are still being verified due to connectivity and travel challenges.

“Storm Melissa came around eight in the morning and continued for around nine hours, during which we were battered with strong gusts and a lot of rain,” he explained.

“We got up to 4.8 metres of flooding at the emergency operating centre. That was a frightening moment for us, and we were praying that it would not increase any more, because we were on the second floor, and I tell you, when we saw the water rising, it was a terrifying experience for us.”

Solomon stated that the town, located in the hard-hit southwest parish of the area, is lacking running water and electricity, and most structures have lost their roofs. One official previously described the town as flooded, with over 500,000 inhabitants lacking electricity. A landslide has blocked the main roads of a nearby area, where streets have been turned to mud pits. Locals are now removing water from their homes and trying to rescue their belongings.

Rescue efforts and evaluations have become extremely difficult because every one of the town’s vehicles and critical services such as fire, police, hospitals and grocery stores were “severely damaged,” notes Solomon.

The mayor is now focused on trying to assist the neediest residents, while also coping with the individual toll of the devastation.

“The mayor's car was totally covered by water. My roof went, so I fully grasp the pain that people are feeling, but what is a priority for me now is to concentrate on getting assistance for the most at-risk at this time,” he says.

The mayor estimates that it will take billions of Jamaican dollars to restore the community after Melissa’s annihilation. For now, he states, the priority is clearing impassable roads, which have isolated the town.

“Efforts are underway to clear the main roads and critical lateral roads here so that we can deliver aid in. The majority of our supermarkets, if not all, were severely affected so they won’t be able to provide supplies to individuals who are in dire straits at this moment,” he adds.

The prime minister has seen the damage first-hand, with an flyover of the region showing the vast majority of roofs in the area had been lost.

“It is going to be a enormous undertaking to rebuild Black River. But while it is destroyed, we can envision a future of it rising stronger and better,” he informed local media.

“It will be accomplished. So maintain the positive outlook, remain hopeful, and we will overcome this challenge, and we will reconstruct stronger,” he affirmed.