Jamaica Battles the Fury of Hurricane Melissa
Jamaica has been struck by what’s being called the “storm of the century” — Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 monster that tore through the island with winds reaching up to 185 miles per hour. The storm made landfall on Tuesday, leaving behind catastrophic flooding, power outages, and scenes of destruction that locals say they’ve never witnessed before. Streets have been turned into rivers, cars are half-submerged, and power lines lie tangled across roads as the nation begins to assess the full scale of the damage.
This hurricane, the strongest ever recorded in Jamaica’s history, arrived with almost no mercy. Satellite images showed a swirling mass of white cloud consuming the entire island as it closed in from the Caribbean Sea. Many Jamaicans, even after repeated government warnings, were unable or unwilling to leave their homes. Some were caught in wooden houses, facing winds powerful enough to peel off roofs and send debris flying through the air.
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British travelers caught in the chaos have spoken out about the lack of early warnings. Several tourists said no alerts were issued before they arrived, and by the time the storm intensified, airports were already shut down. Carl and Kate Pheasant, a couple from north London staying at a resort in Whitehouse, described the eerie sound of the wind “roaring like the sea itself.” Their hotel walls trembled, yet they were aware that many locals were enduring far worse conditions outside the sturdy resort walls.
Another British traveler, nurse Shantal Da-Costa, who had flown to Jamaica for her brother’s wedding, shared that she and dozens of family members were now sheltering in hotels in Montego Bay. She said the atmosphere felt “calm but tense,” adding that her son was anxious and that they had lost contact with relatives in southern Jamaica. “It feels like survival mode,” she admitted, echoing the same worry that so many residents are now living through.
The UK Foreign Office has since urged all British nationals in Jamaica to register their presence for safety updates, while British Airways and travel agencies face criticism for not issuing stronger travel advisories. Meanwhile, the Jamaican government has declared a national disaster, with emergency teams racing to rescue those trapped by floods and landslides.
Hurricane Melissa rapidly evolved from a tropical storm into a Category 5 powerhouse within just two days — a speed scientists say may have been fueled by unusually warm ocean temperatures. It is now moving toward Cuba and the Bahamas, but Jamaica’s scars will take months, if not years, to heal.
For now, the island stands battered yet resilient, its people clinging to hope amid devastation — a reminder of nature’s raw power and humanity’s fragile place within it.
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