2 weeks ago
5
Hurricane Melissa unleashed devastation in Jamaica as the strongest storm on record ever to hit the Caribbean island nation, and roared earlier today into eastern Cuba, smashing the city of Santiago and flooding rural land.
A Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 185 mph (298 kph) when it barrelled into Jamaica overnight. In the midst of the aftermath, Love News Spoke exclusively with Ranar Dally, a resident of St. James, Jamaica who told us about his ordeal.
Ranar Dally, Resident, St. James, Jamaica: “It was very rough. I wanted to go out in the middle of the storm when it was happening but trust me, when I look outside, it was too rough. The community that I live in, at least 80 % of the houses get damaged. The ones that have lamins on top and concrete house, the lamins are gone. For those who have completely board structure, the complete house is gone completely. I’m just going to turn the camera around a little and show you so you can see a little what is happening basically.”
Love Reporter: Ray, what area of Jamaica you live in?
Ranar Dally, Resident, St. James, Jamaica : “St. James. Yeah, that’s pretty much where the storm walks. So the St. James, Hanover, Westmoreland, St. Elizabeth, we got the brunt of the storm. It affected the entire Jamaica, but it walked directly that path. Presently we don’t have cell signals, don’t have light, nothing at all we don’t have. Pretty much right now to get signal is I have a Starlink internet, as you can see it’s right here behind me on my car, and I have to start the car and use the car to power it up to get signal. But as it really is though, deaths are injury. No, we’re not sure.”
Although Melissa has passed, Dally had major concerns about the size of a storm Jamaica had never experienced before.
Ranar Dally, Resident, St. James, Jamaica: “ The damage that was going to be done and a lot of people that wouldn’t have somewhere to go. As it relates to shelter, the government asked that schools and churches be opened for people that don’t have a safe home. I don’t think Jamaica was fully prepared. But since it’s the first time we get in a category five hurricane, I don’t think we could have been prepared for something that we have never experienced. So pretty much I would commend the government that the little things that they put in place based on the past storms that we had, yeah, he did what he could have done.”
Many parts of Jamaica’s western side are underwater, with homes destroyed by strong winds after the hurricane tore across the island with catastrophic force. According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, Melissa has been downgraded to a dangerous Category 3 when it hit Cuba, the largest Caribbean island early morning with sustained winds of 120 mph./
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