HURRICANE MELISSA’S HEAVY TOLL ON JAMAICA

By Staff Writer

Just days after being hammered by the ferocious onslaught of historic and deadly Hurricane Melissa, Jamaica is pledging not just to build back, but to build back better.

A new date has now been permanently etched in the country’s history. October 28th 2025, Jamaica added another event not just to its, but also Caribbean and global meteorological history when powerful Hurricane Melissa slammed into the island with peak record winds of 185 mph. The country and the rest of the western Caribbean had been closely monitoring its slow, uncertain movement for several days before it rapidly escalated and exploded into a Category 5 monster weather system.

Hurricane Melissa which had eerily meandered off Jamaica’s western coast for several days slammed into St Elizabeth parish in the western region of the country, slashing a swathe of destruction through the economically important tourism and agriculture area before exiting to smash into Cuba’s south-east coast.

Much of St. Elizabeth’s vital public infrastructure and services were knocked out, including hospitals, schools, electricity, water, communications, and roads, as well as private enterprises.

In the process of ripping through St Elizabeth, Hurricane Melissa literally shredded the popular Black River area, laying waste to just about everything in its path. A combination of vicious winds, torrential rainfall, massive flooding  - not just from overflowing rivers, streams, but roads themselves turned into raging rivers - and a destructive storm surge bringing pounding waves from the sea deep inland.

It was a catastrophe of biblical proportions.

The aftermath

In the aftermath of the storm, Jamaica is counting the cost in both lives lost and property and infrastructure damage.

The death toll from Hurricane Melissa continues to rise with each passing day. At press time, it was being reported that more than 24 people had perished in Jamaica alone. The death toll from the storm including other affected areas, mainly Haiti and Cuba, was more than 40 and increasing.

Preliminary estimates of the scale of the destruction in Jamaica have been put at a whopping ballpark figure of around $US20 billion including projected losses to the tourism and agriculture sectors, along with associated costs. It’s said that the final calculation could amount to one third of Jamaica’s annual gross domestic product(GDP).

Already, a massive national and global aid response is up and running for Jamaica, including the nation’s extensive global diaspora, said to number around 1.2 million people. Jamaica’s resident population is around 2.8 million.

Cayman lends a hand

The Cayman Islands Government(CIG) was among the first to respond, committing an aid package totalling $US1.2 million, with 1,500 packages of emergency relief supplies valued at $US200,00 already hand-delivered by a CIG aid mission led by Hon.Premier Andre Ebanks.

The United Kingdom, the United States, Caricom(Caribbean intergovernmental group of states), and many other countries are also coming to Jamaica’s aid.

“The entire infrastructure and everything needed for the convenience of modern living is destroyed here,” remarked Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness while touring the devastated St. Elizabeth after the storm.

But, he observed, “From what I have seen and the interaction, the people here are strong, resilient and positive in outlook.”

Counting the cost of rebuilding

As Jamaica sets about the mammoth task of rebuilding, the country has been able to immediately activate its catastrophe fund investment, yielding $US150 million for its recovery efforts.

Also, the Cayman Islands-based Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) has announced that it will make a payout of US$70.8 million to the Government of Jamaica following the passage of Hurricane Melissa. It’s the largest single payout in CCRIF’s history.

With Jamaica still coming to terms with the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa, especially in the western areas, many parts of the country however escaped relatively unscathed. The government of Jamaica reports that efforts are underway to speed up relief supplies to those affected, amidst concerns of people becoming desperate and reports of looting taking place.