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The Original Sinclairs Bargain Center building in Sav-la-Mar.“What has happened here is unimaginable,” the Reverend Canon Hartley Perrin, Custos of Westmoreland and Rector of St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Petersfield, Jamaica, told radio listeners in the tri-state area and South Florida about the situation on the ground in Westmoreland.
Perrin, a prominent clergyman and a dedicated community servant speaking from his battered community in Westmoreland in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, painted a grim picture of widespread devastation, human suffering, and despair in one of Jamaica’s most heavily impacted parishes.
Reverend Canon Hartley Perrin“I am very well personally,” he began quietly, “but I’m very disturbed about the situation surrounding me in terms of the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa. There are no trees left standing. All the trees have either been uprooted or cut in half. There are no breadfruit trees, no coconut trees — you name it, they are all down, to include, of course, utility poles.”
The Custos described scenes of utter destruction across the parish.
“In terms of housing… all the houses have not just been devoid of roof and roofing material, but in many cases have been completely demolished — flat on the ground, just pieces of lumber and pieces of boards scattered where the house used to be. Persons are just left practically destitute.”
A community in mourning
In his own community of Petersfield, Perrin said at least five people have died.
“You’ve had trees falling, you have zinc cutting persons, you have drowning, you have trauma — just in my community,” he said. “The thing about it is that the bodies had to be there for days before the undertakers could get them to the morgue.”
The smell of death now hangs in the air.
“You can smell the whole place — the corpses of dead animals,” he said solemnly, acknowledging the grim reality of livestock losses that will cripple the local food supply for months to come. “It’s going to be a very long haul. My jackfruit tree, which is almost 200 years old, went in the storm. I used to delight in giving somebody a coconut to drink or two breadfruit to walk with. All of that is gone.”
St. Peter’s Anglican Church in ruins
The storm did not spare his beloved St. Peter’s Anglican Church, a historic landmark built in Petersfield in 1843.
St Peter’s Anglican Church in Petersfield, Westmoreland“Only recently, after Hurricane Beryl last year, we had to do a complete re-roofing for over $8 million,” he explained. “Now, this time, Melissa has removed all of the roof and all the windows. All we have now are the walls standing. It’s going to require millions of dollars to restore that building.”
Adjacent Petersfield Primary School, which had served as an emergency shelter, was also destroyed.
“Several of the classrooms and what is called the empowerment room — that’s the room with the computers for slow learners — have lost their roofs,” Perrin said. “The school can’t be reopened in a short time because it has been severely damaged. Another school near to us, Coke’s View Primary, has been split into several pieces.”
Six miles away, Mannings High School in Sav-la-Mar suffered irreparable damage to the Thomas Manning building. The structure, which was constructed in 1738 (the third-oldest school in Jamaica) and was awaiting approval to be refurbished at a cost of $100 million — and which had been declared a national heritage site — was totally demolished by Melissa.
Roads blocked, communities isolated
Access across the parish remains a major challenge. “The roads are slowly being cleared,” Perrin noted. “The main roads here are cleared now to some extent, but there are areas where there’s water running. You can still navigate through whatever obstacles there are. I can get into Sav-la-Mar using one particular route, but you have to choose where you drive.”
With communications cut and power lines down, relief efforts have been slow. “If you don’t have Starlink, you don’t have any communication,” he said. “A truck is coming from Food for the Poor to deliver some food, and I need a police escort to prevent looting.”
The hospital and the hope
The Sav-la-Mar Hospital, Westmoreland’s main medical facility, was heavily damaged.
“A whole area of the roof has been blown off, so that even on the road you could almost see inside the hospital,” Perrin said. “The hurricane has only made a bad situation worse.”
Yet, despite the tragedy, Perrin called for faith and unity. Before closing the radio interview, he offered a moving prayer for his people:
“God and our Father, we continue to give you thanks because in all things you alone are worthy of praise.
We give you thanks for life, particularly for those Jamaicans who have been able to withstand the ravages of this terrible hurricane.
We pray for the families who are dislocated, those who are suffering as a result of the absence of shelter over their heads, those without food or water.
Bring comfort, bring healing. Make us remember that you are always with us because you have promised never to leave and never to forsake.
Bless all those who are within hearing of my voice, and guide us and bless Jamaica, land we love. Amen.”
As Westmoreland struggles to recover, Rev. Canon Hartley Perrin’s words remind us that even amid the wreckage, the spirit of resilience and faith still stands tall.
English (US) ·