The Roof That Almost Took Everything: Why Soca Artist Ms. Camille says the Caribbean Must Strengthen Its Safety Nets

On Tuesday, October 28, Hurricane Melissa roared into the seaside town of Black River, Jamaica, as a Category 5 storm packing winds of 185 miles per hour and a pressure reading tied for the lowest ever recorded in the Atlantic. Roofs lifted into the sky. The historic courthouse lost its dome. St. Theresa’s Catholic Church was stripped to its frame. Twenty-eight Jamaicans are confirmed dead, hundreds remain missing, and the island’s “breadbasket” parishes of St. Elizabeth, Westmoreland, and Manchester are either underwater or draped in tarps. Prime Minister Andrew Holness has called it “the storm of the century.”

Seven hundred miles away in Brooklyn, a carpenter named Damian Clouden hears the news and squeezes his partner’s hand. He knows exactly what those tarps feel like.

On September 13, 2024, just two months after Hurricane Beryl peeled away half the roofs on Grenada’s sister isles, Clouden, a 42-year-old tradesman and father of three, flew home to help. He climbed onto the roof of a two-story house in Hillsborough that needed repair. One gust and one slip sent him twenty feet down onto concrete. He was left with several skull and facial fractures, his femur pierced through his hip dislocating his leg, and his brain bled so rapidly that it led to several seizures and a stroke. With this, the surgeon at Grenada Hospital warned the family to prepare for the worst.

Back in Grand Anse, Camille Claudette John, 8 months postpartum, got the call while changing diapers. Grenada provides free healthcare to its citizens through the public system, a source of national pride that guarantees access to basic medical care. Yet, like many small island nations, the system has limitations. Specialized surgeries, long-term rehabilitation, and emergency airlifts often require private funding or overseas assistance. When crises extend beyond the hospital, families must rely on each other and on the wider Caribbean community.

During that time, Camille found her resolve. She called on her fans, the Grenadian diaspora, and local government officials for help, and the response was overwhelming. Donations came through GoFundMe. Community members organized food drives. Messages of prayer and solidarity arrived from across the islands. Those acts of compassion became a lifeline, proof that even in the absence of comprehensive recovery systems, the Caribbean’s heart remains unshakably strong.

Today, Camille is grateful that Damian is alive and that she gets to raise their daughter with him. The experience reshaped her understanding of what it means to be supported and what still needs to be built.

“Grenada has a strong public healthcare system, and we’re grateful for the doctors and nurses who give their all in the intensive care unit. But recovery takes more than medicine. It takes community. I learned that when people came together for us. My hope is that out of our experience, we can inspire programs that help other families heal, not just survive, when a crisis comes.”

Hurricane Melissa has reminded the region how fragile life can be. Camille is turning that lesson into action, advocating for a stronger Caribbean safety net that builds on what already exists — a culture of care powered by people. Her call is simple but urgent: recovery should not depend on a plane ticket or an online fundraiser. It should live within the community, strengthened by partnerships, training, and policy that ensure when storms come, both literal and personal, no one has to fall alone.

Ms. Camille, born Camille Claudette John, is a Grenadian-American award-winning recording artist, humanitarian, and media personality. She is a classically trained vocalist and songwriter of Caribbean music, internationally representing the tri-island state of Grenada Carriacou & Petite Martinique.