Aid struggles to reach Jamaican towns devastated by hurricane

Five days after Hurricane Melissa touched down in western Jamaica with record force, residents in devastated communities along the coast are still desperately waiting for help.

Many roads are blocked by debris and people are isolated with little food, no electricity or running water, and no idea when normal life will return.

At least 28 people in Jamaica have died since the hurricane struck as a monster Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 185 mph (297 km/h), the government said Saturday.

This represents a nearly 50% jump in the death toll overnight, and the number may rise as officials make their way to new parts of the island in the coming days.

Local official Dr Dayton Campbell told the BBC that 10 of those deaths were in Westmoreland.

Westmoreland Parish is believed to have the second highest number of unconfirmed deaths, after St Elizabeth in the south-east. The eye of the storm struck somewhere between the two neighboring parishes. In St. Elizabeth, an estimated 90% of homes were destroyed.

A long stretch of road heading west into Westmoreland Parish winds through a graveyard of trees — piles of branches and limbs, splintered and twisted, covering the landscape for miles. It is a grim testament to the ferocity of Hurricane Melissa, which was the strongest storm to hit the Caribbean island in modern history.

Piles of debris piled up on roadsides in the parish, next to destroyed buildings, shipping crates were turned on their sides, and crowds of people wandered through the devastation.

On Saturday morning, men with machetes cut tree branches as thick as their armpits, clearing sections of the road where traffic jams had been at a standstill.

A policeman with an automatic weapon strapped to his chest, part of a convoy accompanying an aid truck on its way to Westmoreland, jumped out of his car to help direct traffic.

“We don’t know what awaits us,” the officer told the BBC, describing what he saw as “total devastation.”

Those living in Whitehouse, a coastal town and commercial center on the edge of Westmoreland Parish, say the wait for help has become frustrating.

Gary Williams said he heard promises of aid delivery, but it “did not come.”

He sat in the shade on a makeshift chair in front of a barely standing building – its roof completely collapsed – unsure of what to do next.

Williams said he lost his home in the storm and has “nowhere to live,” suggesting he might be sleeping right where he is, outside on the front porch.

Another woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “Words cannot explain the situation we are in. It is terrible. I don’t even know what to say. There are so many desperate, helpless, helpless people here right now.”

About 400,000 people in Jamaica were without power as of Friday, and countless people cannot access cell phone service or Wi-Fi, cut off from the outside world.

Jamaica’s Minister of Transport Darryl Vaz announced on Saturday that more than 200 StarLink devices have been deployed across the island to help people access the Internet.

He touched on the criticism the government received over its response, saying that there were “several factors” that contributed to the delay.

“Refueling, landing zones, accessibility and timing/visibility,” Vaz told X.

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness urged that the “immediate focus be on clearing the rubble and restoring basic services,” as well as providing food and medical supplies.

But that will only solve part of the problem.

In a small community outside the White House, Robert Morris was resting on a slab of broken concrete. Behind him, the fishing village he had called home all his life, along with his source of livelihood, was destroyed.

“We’re all devastated here, man,” he said. He said the boat house was destroyed and was now “flat.”

“Melissa destroyed everything,” he said, including his fishing boat, which he described as “mashed up.”

Morris also spoke of “no help, no food, no water.”

“We just have to try and see what we can do,” he said, adding that his plan was to find someone whose boat was still intact so he could join him and fish.

Until then, he is not sure where he will sell his catch.

The people in these areas are full of pride and resilience, words often repeated on local radio stations and showing their optimism in the most difficult circumstances.

Roy Perry, who was sitting under the facade of a badly damaged building, said he had lost everything, but “we just have to keep the faith and hope is still there.”

“I can’t give up. I won’t give up,” he said.

It’s the same tone used by Orth Jones, the farmer sitting on the bed of his truck selling pears, squash, and sweet potatoes—the last of his produce to survive the storm.

“It’s all destroyed. It’s all destroyed,” he said of his farm. But he quickly continued, saying: “We have to thank God that we are alive.”

Jones survived the most powerful hurricane in Jamaica’s history while injured, and was wearing a homemade splint on his right leg from a fracture he suffered during a bicycle accident before Melissa struck.

When asked how the community could move forward, he said: “Pray. We can’t do anything else. Nothing else.”

At the same time, foreign aid began entering Jamaica.

The US State Department announced on Friday that a disaster assistance response team had arrived. Countries including the UK have also pledged to donate millions of dollars in relief funds and emergency supplies.