Having escaped unscathed from the devastation left behind by Hurricane Melissa, Aura Charles is still struggling to come to grips with the terrifying experience of living through a Category 5 cyclone.
The 31-year-old Charles, a Saint Lucian who has been residing in Kingston, Jamaica for the past nine years, is counting her lucky stars after the record-breaking hurricane caused little damage to her community.
In an interview with the St. Lucia Times, Charles described the experience as a harrowing one, even though Kingston escaped the brunt of Melissa’s damage.
“There’s nothing significant to report in terms of infrastructural damage… I truly cannot complain. For a while it felt like we were living the same day over and over, as it was building its strength from Friday [October 24],” she recalled.
“Where I am, we mostly had gusty winds. The wind was scary strong. I live on a street that typically gets flooded in little to no time, and with the rain starting from Saturday… right through to Tuesday, there was no flooding by me.”
However, Charles said she was still traumatised after seeing the massive amount of damage inflicted by the strongest-ever hurricane to hit Jamaica’s shores.
She disclosed that she had spoken to several other Saint Lucians in the aftermath, and by all reports, they were doing fine.
“The passage of the hurricane itself would have triggered a wave of anxiety. Even now, I’m still mentally unsettled, as many people are, because of the devastation that Melissa has caused in other areas, especially the west.
“I almost feel guilty for making it out unscathed, to be honest. We have Saint Lucians also in these vulnerable areas, who have thankfully reported that they are alive and well and only mildly impacted, thank God… Those of us Saint Lucians who reside and work here were checking in on each other and we were fine. I haven’t heard about any reports about Saint Lucians requiring additional assistance, neither students nor residents. We’re in contact with each other,” Charles said.
“The focus now is just figuring out how to lend a hand to start rebuilding our brothers’ and sisters’ communities in the west…The west has essentially just been decimated by Melissa. It’s everything that you have seen in the media and then some.
“I have friends here who cannot get to their loved ones… who have lost their childhood homes, their schools, their neighbourhoods, their hospitals. Places there are unrecognisable; St Elizabeth, St James, even St Thomas, which is far east, experienced severe water damage. It’s devastating,” she added.
Hurricane Melissa makes history
According to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami, Melissa brought maximum sustained winds of 185 mph, far exceeding the 157 mph threshold for a Category 5, the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Though the winds circling the eye of the storm were fierce, the hurricane itself crawled over Jamaica at just three mph, prolonging the damage caused.
During its passage over Jamaica, Hurricane Melissa broke several records.
Melissa is one the largest hurricanes to have ever formed and made landfall in the Atlantic basin and the strongest to have ever made landfall in Jamaica, surpassing Hurricane Gilbert in 1988.
According to the Weather Channel, she tied for third strongest on record by pressure, with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, behind only 1988’s Gilbert and 2005’s Wilma, and was one of only seven Atlantic hurricanes to have had a surface pressure lower than 900 millibars.
Only nine Atlantic Basin hurricanes have had peak sustained winds of 180 mph or higher, with Melissa tying for second on this list with four other hurricanes. Hurricane Allen in 1980 with 190 mph winds topped the list, with Melissa sharing the title with Hurricane Dorian in 2019, Hurricane Wilma in 2005, Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, and the “Labour Day” hurricane in 1935.
Deaths, destruction, and damages
According to a report by the Inter-American Development Bank, when Hurricane Dorian hit The Bahamas, destroying thousands of homes, it caused an estimated US$3.4 billion in damages and losses. This is equivalent to one quarter of the country’s GDP. A report from the NHC, declared at least 74 people died with an additional 245 missing or unaccounted for, as a result of the storm.
To date, Melissa’s death toll has continued to rise. In Haiti, 23 deaths were attributed to the severe flooding and landslides. Twenty of these fatalities, including 10 children, were due to flooding in Petit-Goâve, after a river burst its banks.
In Jamaica, Westmoreland Eastern MP Dayton Campbell, in an interview with TVJ on October 30, said the total death toll had risen to 10.
The destruction left behind by Melissa is yet to be fully assessed, however the costs incurred as a result of the storm are likely to be significant.
As a result, the Government of Jamaica has launched a website to mobilise support, accept donations, channel relief funds, and coordinate recovery efforts throughout the island.
The Support Jamaica website can be accessed at supportjamaica.gov.jm.
