Hurricane Melissa damages 156,000 homes, with 24,000 total losses in Jamaica

Hurricane Melissa has caused widespread destruction across western and central Jamaica, damaging 156,000 dwellings, with 24,000 considered total losses, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) reported on Wednesday.

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Director General of ODPEM, Commander Alvin Gayle, provided the update during a special press conference at Jamaica House on November 19. He said 97 emergency shelters remain active, housing 1,296 persons.

Several communities continue to face challenges from rising groundwater, including Bogue in Clarendon; Comfort Hall, Content District, Evergreen, and Harmons in Manchester; Brighton, New Market, and parts of Santa Cruz in St. Elizabeth; Chigwell in Hanover; and Douglas Castle and Pedro River in St. Ann. Commander Gayle stressed that no community is currently inaccessible.

On infrastructure restoration, the ODPEM Director General said Jamaica Public Service (JPS) continues repair work, but approximately 31 per cent of the population remains without electricity. “Prioritisation efforts continue in critical economic zones in St. James, St. Ann, and Trelawny,” he noted.

Water services have also been affected, with 24 per cent of the National Water Commission (NWC) system offline due to damage in western parishes and unstable power in certain areas. Telecommunications is showing improvement, with providers restoring roughly 70 per cent of mobile sites, allowing over 90 per cent of daily active users to access services, including mobile data.

The human toll from Hurricane Melissa currently stands at 45 confirmed deaths, with nine cases under investigation and 15 persons reported missing.

Government to purchase container homes

In response to the housing crisis, the Government has announced plans to use “pre-built containerised modular solutions” to rapidly rebuild destroyed homes.

Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness said the National Housing Trust will purchase 5,000 container homes in the initial phase. “We have to do a rapid deployment of housing solutions and the easiest way to do this is to use the containerised solutions,” he said. Some of the units will be sold to individuals, while others will be used to build housing schemes. A portion will be allocated for free distribution through the Government’s social housing programme.

Holness cautioned that it will take time to bring enough containers into the island to make a significant impact. “We are not going to get them here for Christmas. I’ll just have to be frank with everybody, but we should start to see some coming in by late January, and those that come in initially, we are going to be looking at the worst cases assessed to make them available,” he said. For the immediate period, he added, emergency measures such as shelter repair kits and heavy-duty tarpaulins will be used.

The Prime Minister also confirmed the Government will provide rebuilding grants, though amounts are still being determined as assessments continue. “We are not going to wait until we have assessed every single house, but we do need to reach a critical threshold, where we begin to see how the damage is stacking up from a statistical point of view, so we know how much to allocate for minor repairs, how much to allocate for moderate repairs and how much to allocate for severe,” Holness said.

He expects a clearer picture once about 30,000 assessments have been completed.