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The road from Jamaica’s capital to the seaside town of Black River was known for its lush bamboo forests that formed a natural tunnel and glowed green in the bright sunlight.
But its famous bamboo trunks lay strewn and mutilated across the road after Hurricane Melissa on Thursday, forcing Jamaican soldiers to cut them down with machetes in a desperate bid to reopen the main waterway of the Black River, which the government has described as “ground zero” of the storm.
Melissa came ashore just west of the city on Tuesday, leaving up to 90% of buildings in Black River without roofs as it downed power lines and collapsed concrete structures.
one of the strongest atlantic Hurricane Melissa is blamed for at least 19 deaths in Jamaica and 31 nearby haiti,
People were struggling for relief in the ruins of the Black River area of Jamaica.
,People Hungry,” said Monique Powell as she looked over stockpiles of groceries and household goods for herself and a group of residents of Greenfield, one of several hurricane-ravaged communities on the outskirts of Black River.
As crews rushed to reopen roads, helicopters hovered over isolated communities and dropped food.
Desperate for aid, crowds of storm-weary people descended on food establishments in Black River, offering their goods. Most objects were drenched and damaged as the Category 5 hurricane’s strong winds tore down buildings and 15-foot (5 m) sea waves crashed into old structures.
What was left behind was a smelly, sticky mixture of mud, sand and sea water, covering damaged cars and building fragments, which were scattered across the city’s narrow streets.
“Everything is gone,” Michelle Barnes said after she and her 13-year-old daughter secured their share of the handouts.
In the muddy and narrow streets of the historic seaside town surrounded by debris, men, women and children were moving quickly with many bags, some with boxes or any container they found filled with relief materials and held above their heads.
Meanwhile, teenage boys and men were carrying bags of goods on motorcycles and bicycles in the scorching afternoon sun.
“My roof is gone and even the windows,” said Sadiq Blair, trying to escape the scorching sun.
A historic port was destroyed
Named after one of Jamaica’s longest rivers, Black River is one of the island’s oldest towns and the first town to have electricity, according to the National Heritage Trust of Jamaica.
Black River became the capital of the southern parish of St. Elizabeth in the late 1770s and served as a bustling port until the 1900s. Over the years, nearby cities such as Santa Cruz and Junction have gradually replaced Black River as the commercial center in Jamaica’s breadbasket region.
Some wondered whether the storm was an opportunity to rebuild the Black River and regain its former glory as a place of trade and commerce, which was fading over time.
A teary-eyed Marcia Green was seen staring at the debris where her hairdressing shop once stood.
“Everything is destroyed,” he said. “I had just purchased some new equipment and fixtures because I was going to move to a new location to refresh my business. But there is nothing left.”
For many in the south-western parish, it is a double dose of disaster.
In July 2024, the outer bands of Hurricane Beryl devastated the southern coast of Jamaica. The seaside communities of the southern parishes of Clarendon, Manchester and St. Elizabeth were hardest hit, and many were still picking up the pieces when Hurricane Melissa arrived.
series of deaths
In the latest hurricane, many of the 19 deaths recorded in Jamaica were in St. Elizabeth Parish, according to police.
In nearby Haiti, officials reported at least 31 people dead and 21 others missing, most of them in the country’s southern region. More than 15,800 people also stayed in shelters.
Haiti’s civil protection agency said Hurricane Melissa killed at least 20 people, including 10 children, in Petit-Goave, where more than 160 homes were damaged and 80 others were destroyed.
No deaths were reported in CubaWhere civil defense evacuated more than 735,000 people from the eastern part of the island before the storm made landfall early Wednesday.
Cuban officials reported damage to rooftops, power lines, and fiber optic telecommunications cables, as well as cut off roads, isolated communities, and extensive damage to banana, cassava, and coffee plantations.
Many communities were still without electricity, internet and telephone service.
Melissa made landfall in southwestern Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane with peak winds of 185 mph (295 kph). It set records for the strength of landfalling Atlantic hurricanes, both in wind speed and barometric pressure.