Hurricane Melissa made landfall Tuesday afternoon in southwestern Jamaica near New Hope with estimated maximum sustained winds of 185 mph — making it the strongest storm to hit the island in 174 years of recordkeeping.
The Jamaican government said it did all it could to prepare as it warned of the potential devastation.
“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.”
On "Florida Matters: Live & Local," host Matthew Peddie spoke with some on the island prior to landfall and those here at home about what's needed next.
WUSF freelance photographer and journalist Octavio Jones said he's based in a hotel north of downtown Kingston. Around noon, Jones said the winds were already very strong. Earlier in the day, he was at the waterfront and saw people looking worried about what the impact could be.
ALSO READ: Tampa Bay residents with ties to Jamaica are worried about Hurricane Melissa
Jones explained how, even though Jamaica is a mountainous area, there are communities along the coast. He spoke with some residents who hadn't evacuated.
"They said they are afraid of losing everything. And they have family," Jones said. "Families and friends are around the world have contacted them and pretty much encouraging them to evacuate."
Jones added that people were trying to get to off the coast and go to as high of ground as possible.
Bryan Stern, the founder of the Tampa-based Grey Bull Rescue, was in the Caribbean, ready to head to Jamaica as soon as the storm moved through. His veteran-led, donor-funded rescue and evacuation organization has done almost 800 missions in four years, from war zones to hurricanes.
Stern said every single operation is different. In hurricanes, he said, the entire environment is unstable due to debris and possibly toxic industrial chemicals.
"The entire operating environment is unstable. So in war, you can trust the dirt under your boots. In a hurricane, you can't trust the dirt under your boots," Stern said. "This is what we do, and we know that you have to roll with the punches with this stuff. You could try and read the tea leaves. But the reality is, you have to wait to see what cards Mother Nature gives us."
Structural damage top of mind
Stern anticipated that the focus would be mostly on people in structures that have been destroyed, but wasn't sure what the extent of the flooding would be.
"It really depends on the track. The terrain of Jamaica is very interesting that it's either going to be a blessing or a curse," Stern said. "Kingston, as an example, sits almost in a bowl. So that bowl — that goes both directions, right? Depending on if this is more of a wind event or a water event, and a storm or a storm surge event will dictate whether or not that bowl serves... almost in a prophylactic role we've seen before in some places."
Stern added that he anticipated communications, power and water to be down, and roads washed away.
ALSO READ: Category 5 Hurricane Melissa brings flooding and catastrophic winds to Jamaica
"So you can't move around a whole lot. Lot of mud. Lot of muck. And a lot of people stuck in places that used to be sound and are now matchsticks. And what do you do with that? I think it's going to be much more of that than anything else," Stern said.
Evie Larmond Louden, the former executive director of the Caribbean Community Association, is in Tampa.
She told Florida Matters many Jamaicans are concerned about the roofs on their houses. She said they're not strong, and when roofs are gone, people will still have to crouch down and stay in their homes because they have nowhere else to go.
"In Jamaica right now, there is no safe place and there's nowhere to run," Louden said, describing some people having to climb trees due to rising water.
"They have nowhere to turn to. They have nowhere to run. And so our concern is about the kids as well, if they're families with young children, it's just traumatic for them and we worry this is a serious time," Louden said.
Stern added many structures in Jamaica are "not up to par."
This is despite improvements over the years, as Jamaica has made investments in disaster preparedness. For example, its government partnered with the World Bank to implement an initiative called the Jamaica Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project.
But Stern compared Melissa to when Hurricane Milton hit Tampa last year as a Category 4 storm, and how it gave the city a run for its money despite Tampa having building codes, structural integrity, permits and more.
"Jamaica doesn't have any of those things. They don't have any of that. So when we think about a house in Jamaica, they're nice homes and all those other things, but seldom in Tampa would there be a home that can withstand that kind of wind — let alone Jamaica," Stern said.
He added that the result will be lost roofs and collapsed houses.
"People will die. 100% these body counts are potentially pretty big," Stern said.
So far, the storm has killed at least three people in Jamaica, three in Haiti, and a seventh in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing. Melissa was expected to make landfall in eastern Cuba late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Up to 20 inches of rain were forecast in some areas there, along with a significant storm surge along the coast.
"When the wind goes and the water goes, those survivors are still going to be in piles of remnants of homes," Stern said.
'A unified part of our culture'
But as the storm barrels through the Caribbean, Louden said those in the Tampa community and elsewhere remain committed to helping however they can.
"Here's a good thing. We have not just a Jamaican community here [in Tampa]. We have a Caribbean community here, and that's a unified part of our culture," Louden said. "It's one island, but it's one Caribbean."
Louden added that they're coming together in a group called Tampa Cares Coalition, which will hold an emergency meeting Wednesday to see what the needs will be. She mentioned that those in Jamaica need will likely need home repair items and hygienic supplies and blankets instead of clothing.
The Jamaican Alliance Movement at USF is also raising money for those affected by Hurricane Melissa.
Joshua Shirley is from Jamaica and has family there. He said he thinks the recovery process will be difficult and that they'll be reliant on the support of people from other countries.
"A simple $5 donation or what you spend on a coffee could really change [the] lives of people; could really have an impact that's bigger than life,” Shirley said.
The Associated Press and WUSF's Emma Brisk contributed to this report. This story was compiled from interviews conducted by Matthew Peddie for "Florida Matters Live & Local." You can listen to the full episode here.
