“Do not go out,” insists the American Hurricane Center (NHC). Hurricane Melissa, Category 5, the strongest, is expected to make landfall this Tuesday, October 28 in Jamaica. The NHC anticipates “life-threatening” storms, flooding and devastation on a scale comparable to that caused by Hurricanes Maria in 2017 or Katrina in 2005, in Puerto Rico and New Orleans. Currently, the winds blow up to 280 kilometers per hour.
According to local authorities on Monday, three people died in Jamaica while preparing for the hurricane’s arrival, cutting branches and working on ladders. For several days now, all of Jamaica has been preparing as best it can to face the feared increase.
Sheet metal, cement blocks, food bag…
Owner of a surf school and chef of a restaurant on a beach in Bull Bay, about twenty kilometers from Kingston, Ishack Wilmot preferred to join his family in the capital in case “the worst scenario” occurred. From the hill where it is located, “normally I can see to the horizon. But here I don’t even see the port. Everything is gray,” he describes.
In Flagaman, in the south of the island, Enrico Coke opened the doors of his store to welcome those in need.
“We have everything we need here: food, drink, soap, toothpaste… So we let everyone come,” he explains, “worried about those who have nowhere to stay.”
“I am worried about the farmers and fishermen who will suffer later,” anticipates Enrico Coke. “We will need help as soon as possible. Especially water for the people.”
Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprint icon, prays for his island and published the list of emergency numbers by region on social networks.
Lisa, a French woman who has lived in the Caribbean country for a year and a half with her Jamaican husband, says she is “stressed” and “impatient” on BFMTV. “We can’t wait for it to pass because they have been telling us for days that this hurricane is going to arrive, that we are preparing,” he emphasizes.
The couple protected their windows with sheet metal and “a lot of adhesive tape” as well as plastic bags “so that water wouldn’t get in.” “We put cement blocks in front of the door so that the flood would not enter the house. We moved our beds away from the windows, we charged our phones, our batteries. We prepared a bag of food in case we had to leave quickly, also an emergency bag,” explains the Breton woman.
Around him, Jamaicans “are not really stressed.” “I think there is no awareness of this reality,” says Lisa.
“Evacuate? No, no. Since I’ve experienced hurricanes, I’ve never left this place. This one is no different. Even if it were a category, I wouldn’t move,” says Roy Brown, a plumber and tiler, although the Saffir-Simpson scale stops at category 5.
Relocated students
Two students from Bordeaux who were on a university exchange in Kingston were relocated a few days ago “to rooms with hurricane shutters.” “Early enough to have time to move around in good conditions and bring our food,” explains student Manon Gary. Mattresses are installed on the floor and bags of water are stored.
Zoos are also preparing for the hurricane. Flamingos, turtles, ostriches: Joey Brown and his team worked to house the thousand and a half animals at the Hope Zoo, located east of Kingston. “Last meals and animal checks done,” the zoo’s curator announced on Monday afternoon, warning that he risked “soon losing electricity and means of communication.”
In the images shared on social networks, pink flamingos stay between sinks and urinals, five dogs of all types of hair coexist on the carpet of a living room, and cages that protect parrots and parakeets are piled up in a sealed room. “Preparing a zoo for what is possibly the worst hurricane to hit Jamaica is exhausting and stressful,” he wrote.
“Even if it were category 6, I wouldn’t move”
The Caribbean island is already experiencing “torrential rains,” says Jamal Peters, a receptionist at the Grand Hotel Excelsior in Port Royal, a small historic town at the end of the narrow peninsula opposite the capital, Kingston. At the beach hotel where he works, trees were trimmed, remaining guests were moved to upper floors to protect from possible flooding, and boats were moved into the marina.
However, in this strip of land, where the international airport is being built, closed since Saturday, neither the imminent danger nor the evacuation orders are causing the inhabitants to flee.
“Evacuate? No, no. Since I’ve been through hurricanes, I’ve never left this place. This one is no different. Even if it was a Category 6, I wouldn’t move,” says Roy Brown, a plumber and tiler, although the Saffir-Simpson scale stops at Category 5.
Jennifer Ramdial, a fisherman who has lived in Port Royal for about thirty years, “just doesn’t want to leave,” citing the poor conditions of the shelters. “During Hurricane Beryl last year, a lot of people stayed home,” confirms Jamal Peters. “Jamaicans are not ones to leave their homes. They prefer to stay, and if a window breaks or something like that, they are there to try to find a solution.”
Landslides are feared in areas where many precarious facilities are installed. “I don’t think any infrastructure in this region could withstand a Category 5 hurricane, so there could be significant destruction,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said on CNN, calling on residents to evacuate the highest-risk areas.
If it does not lose intensity, it will be the most powerful hurricane to make landfall in Jamaica since meteorological monitoring began.
Source: BFM TV
