🔗 Share this article

The local leader of the town of Black River – a community referred to as “the epicenter” for Hurricane Melissa – has shared the immense flooding and extensive destruction caused by the disaster.

Reflecting on the traumatic ordeal, the mayor described riding out the Category 5 hurricane at an emergency response center.

“The entire town of this area is devastated,” he said. “The destruction is so severe that the national leader designated this area as the worst-hit zone.”

Five individuals from the town are reported dead, but Solomon noted receiving word of other fatalities that remain unconfirmed due to connectivity and travel difficulties.

“Storm Melissa came around 8 a.m. and lasted for around nine hours, during which we were pounded with strong gusts and a lot of rain,” he explained.

“We experienced up to 16ft of flooding at the emergency operating centre. That was a frightening moment for us, and we were hoping that it would not increase any further, because we were on the upper level, and frankly, when we saw the water rising, it was a scary experience for us.”

The mayor explained that the town, situated in the hard-hit south-western parish of the area, is without running water and power, and the majority of structures have lost their roofing. One official earlier characterized the town as under water, with more than 500,000 residents lacking electricity. A landslide has obstructed the primary routes of a nearby area, where streets have been turned to muddy tracks. Locals are now removing water from their houses and attempting to salvage their belongings.

Search and rescue operations and damage assessments have proven extremely difficult because all the town’s vehicles and critical services such as firefighting, police, hospitals and supermarkets were “immensely damaged,” says Solomon.

He is now concentrating on working to help the most vulnerable, while also dealing with the individual toll of the devastation.

“My vehicle was completely covered by water. The roofing went, so I fully grasp the suffering that people are feeling, but what is a key focus for me now is to focus on getting aid relief for the most at-risk at this point,” he says.

Solomon believes that it will take millions of local currency to restore Black River after the hurricane's annihilation. For now, he states, the priority is removing debris from blocked routes, which have cut off the town.

“We are now trying to clear the major thoroughfares and secondary routes here so that we can get relief supplies in. The majority of our stores, if not all, were impacted negatively so they won’t be able to offer goods to individuals who are in need at this moment,” he says.

The prime minister has witnessed the damage first-hand, with an flyover of the region revealing 80 to 90% of roofs in the area had been lost.

“This will be a massive task to rebuild Black River. But although it is destroyed, we can envision a tomorrow of it emerging more resilient and improved,” he informed local media.

“We will get it done. So keep the positive outlook, keep hope alive, and we will get through this, and we will reconstruct stronger,” he affirmed.