More than 24 hours after Hurricane Melissa pummelled Jamaica as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, Chris Garwood was still trying to make contact with his mother and a sister who live in St. Elizabeth parish.
Garwood is from St. Elizabeth — considered Jamaica’s breadbasket, because it’s where most of the island’s agricultural production takes place — and has been living in Hamilton since 2001.
While he awaits word about his relatives, Garwood is part of a community group in Hamilton that has jumped into action, spearheading efforts to assist the island nation with its recovery.
“I am from … the area that was directly hit. That is where my mother is today, that’s where my siblings are,” Garwood told CBC Hamilton.
“I have made contact with my brother, and I’ve made contact with [one of] my sisters [but] I am unable to reach my mother and my other sister who were in Santa Cruz [a town in St. Elizabeth] at the time when it hit.
“[In] the pictures we have seen, just about every hydro pole is on the ground, so communication is next to nothing,” added Garwood.
He said his brother set out Wednesday morning “with his power saw to see if he can make his way to check on my mom. So, hopefully … I’ll hear something about how my mom and my sister in Santa Cruz, how they fared.”
Landslides, fallen trees and numerous power outages were reported after Melissa made landfall just before 12 p.m. E.T. Tuesday, with 297 km/h winds, near New Hope in St. Elizabeth, with officials cautioning that the cleanup and damage assessment could be slow.
The hurricane has left dozens dead and also left widespread destruction across Cuba and Haiti. Roofless homes, fallen utility poles and water-logged furniture dominated the landscape of the three countries Wednesday.
In Haiti, flooding from Melissa killed at least 25 people in the southern coastal town of Petit-Goave, its mayor told The Associated Press.
“St. Elizabeth took a direct hit, and the capital of St. Elizabeth, Black River, has sustained a lot of damage — the roof of the Black River Hospital is completely blown off,” Garwood said.
“A church, which stood in the middle of Black River, which would have been standing there for decades, there’s two walls standing. Everything else is on the ground.”
Floodwaters trapped at least three families in their homes in the community of Black River, and crews were unable to help them because of dangerous conditions, said Desmond McKenzie, deputy chairman of Jamaica’s Disaster Risk Management Council.
“There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said. “The question now is the speed of recovery. That’s the challenge.”
Garwood is appealing to people in Canada to help in whatever way they can, saying those who decide to help should make sure they go through official channels to avoid scammers.
“If people are so moved that they want to assist us they should use the official channels,” he said.
“We have already seen some nefarious activities where people are posting as if they’re collecting on behalf of Jamaica, using URLs that are very close to what the government has set up, but it’s not the same.”
The government of Jamaica has established a website to mobilize support after Hurricane Melissa.
He said people who are in doubt should call the Jamaican consulate general’s office in Toronto, or the Jamaican high commissioner’s office in Ottawa.
Meanwhile, Garwood said the Jamaica Foundation of Hamilton, where he serves as treasurer, will be co-ordinating the local relief efforts, so members of the Hamilton community will be able to make donations directly” to the foundation.
All donations will be sent to the government of Jamaica, he said.
Winsome Plummer, president of the Jamaica Foundation of Hamilton, has been living in the city since 2015.
Originally from the Jamaican parish of St. Ann, Plummer said she has not been able to reach her relatives there since Tuesday because “communications are down,” but the reports she’s seen so far suggest that people in that area “are doing OK.”
Hurricane Melissa tears through Jamaica
Plummer said the foundation is still working out details for the relief effort in Hamilton, and these will be made public soon.
“Jamaica is our homeland and we are concerned. We do have families, we have relatives, we have interests in Jamaica,” Plummer told CBC News.
“Jamaica is considered a third world [country] … and we know for sure that this hurricane will definitely be a stab in terms of their development.”
According to Plummer, given all that Jamaica has to offer the world, “it’s important that we rise to the occasion, because we’ve benefited from Jamaica.
“So, it’s important that we remember our brothers and sisters who may not be as fortunate as we are to have other options for support. It’s important that we maintain that connection and help where we can,” Plummer added.
