First quarter of 21st century ends with unspeakable destruction

IN THE first quarter of the 2000s, Jamaica was significantly affected by hurricanes, including hurricanes Ivan and Dean.

Hurricane Ivan, a Category 3 system lingered on the land from September 10-12, 2004. It passed south of the country, devastating the island, killing 17 people and causing US$575 million in damage. Category 4 Hurricane Dean also passed south of the island, from August 19-21, 2007, causing US$300 million in damage from the high winds and heavy rainfall, leading to flooding and power outages across the island.

On Wednesday, July 3, last year, Category 4 Hurricane Beryl swirled past Jamaica’s southern coast with maximum sustained winds of up to 140 miles per hour. It carried heavy rainfall, powerful waves and strong winds, which caused extended widespread power outages.

The Met Service reported that while Hurricane Beryl did not make landfall, the eye wall of the system hit southern parishes causing major structural damage in sections of Clarendon, Manchester, and St Elizabeth, the last two being the most severely affected. While the storm caused significant disruptions, including uprooted trees and washed-away roads, only two associated deaths were reported. The swift movement of the hurricane reduced the duration of exposure to its destructive forces.

Because of its age, Hurricane Beryl was regarded a miserably old woman, who was swift and vicious. And her daughter, Melissa, was waiting in the wings to continue the onslaught. The atmospheric system that carried Hurricane Melissa simmered in the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea for about week. The region was put on high alert, and when it was projected to hit Jamaica the tension started. It gradually grew in tandem with the strength of the maelstrom.

The Category 3 designation was now a serious cause for concern and the upgrade to Category 4 erased most of the doubt that it would make furious entrance. Preparation went into high gear, likewise the rush for food. It was clear on Sunday, October 26 and Monday, October 27 that Category 4/5 Melissa was going to crash into Jamaica.

Principal director of the Meteorological Services Branch in the Ministry of Water, Environment and Climate Change, Evan Thompson, identified the southwestern coastline as the expected point of entry for the monster hurricane. On Tuesday, October 28, approximately 1 p.m., near a place called New Hope in Westmoreland, Hurricane Melissa landed.

With great visibility people could immediately see and feel the carnage. The apocalyptic energy made massive trees dance and rock until they were broken and/or uprooted. Packing wind speeds of 295 kilometres per hour (185 miles per hour), Melissa, the younger, but stronger version of Beryl, was in a rage, howling eerily and whistling terrifyingly at the same time, screaming at everything in her path, intent on destroying what Beryl had missed in Manchester and St Elizabeth, and neighbouring parishes, last year.

It carried on with itself until darkness came, leaving a country and a people stunned. The rain and the breeze did not relent. When nature removed the cover of darkness, Manchester, St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, St James, Hanover, Trelawny and St Ann were a picture of unprecedented destruction. By then, the weakened child of Beryl was knocking on Cuba’s door.

It had left doors, windows, and entire structures strewn all over the aforementioned parishes and beyond. Quaint little towns were inundated, and ‘drowned’. Black River, the historic and rundown capital of St Elizabeth, was reduced to rubble. When did the bomb drop?

At the time of publication about 11 people had died during the deluge, about 25,000 were in national shelters, and, of course, it was too early to give an estimate of the monetary cost of the most destructive storm/hurricane, it seems, ever to have rocked Jamaica. The visual and audiovisual contents on social media speak for themselves.

They are going to leave indelible marks for years to come for those who witnessed the strength of nature’s wrath, and they will tell the stories to those who were not around, and to generations to come. Melissa ended the first quarter of the 21st century with a bang that will reverberate for a long time in the history of hurricanes and storms in Jamaica.

Many other minor systems barrelled past the island or make landfall since 2001. They include Hurricane Iris (October 7, 2001), Hurricane Charley (August 11, 2004), Hurricane Dennis (July 7, 2005), Hurricane Wilma (October 17-18, 2005), Hurricane Gustav (August 28, 2008), Hurricane Paloma (November 8, 2008), Hurricane Sandy (October 24, 2012), Hurricane Elsa (July 4, 2021), Hurricane Grace (August 17, 2021), Hurricane Ian (September 26, 2022), and Hurricane Rafael (November 5, 2024).