City Leader Leading Recovery Efforts at Hurricane Melissa's Epicenter
The local leader of the town of Black River – a community referred to as “ground zero” for the devastating storm – has shared the immense storm surges and extensive devastation wrought by the disaster.
Speaking on the harrowing experience, Richard Solomon described enduring the intense storm at an emergency operating centre.
“The entire town of this area is devastated,” he stated. “And that devastation is so severe that the prime minister classified this area as ground zero.”
Several people from the town are reported to have died, but the mayor noted receiving word of additional fatalities that remain unconfirmed due to connectivity and transportation difficulties.
“The hurricane came around 8 a.m. and lasted for around nine hours, during which we were battered with heavy winds and torrential rainfall,” he explained.
“We got up to 16ft of water at the emergency operating centre. It was a frightening moment for us, and we were praying that it would not increase any more, because we were on the upper level, and frankly, when we saw the water climbing, it was a scary moment for us.”
Solomon explained that the town, situated in the hard-hit southwest parish of St Elizabeth, is without water and power, and most buildings have lost their roofs. One official earlier described the town as under water, with over half a million inhabitants lacking electricity. A landslide has blocked the primary routes of Santa Cruz, where roadways have been turned to muddy tracks. Residents are now removing water from their homes and trying to salvage their possessions.
Search and rescue operations and evaluations have proven extremely difficult because all the town’s vehicles and essential facilities such as firefighting, law enforcement, medical centers and supermarkets were “immensely damaged,” says Solomon.
The mayor is now focused on working to help the most vulnerable, while also coping with the individual toll of the disaster.
“My vehicle was totally submerged by water. My roof was lost, so I do understand the pain that people are experiencing, 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 explains.
Solomon estimates that it will take millions of local currency to restore the community after the hurricane's annihilation. For now, he says, the main goal is removing debris from blocked routes, which have cut off the town.
“Efforts are underway to get the main roads and secondary routes here so that we can get aid in. Most of our stores, if not all, were severely affected so they will be unable to offer goods to persons who are in need at this moment,” he adds.
The prime minister has seen the damage personally, with an flyover of the area revealing 80 to 90% of roofs in the area had been lost.
“It is going to be a enormous undertaking to restore this historic town. But while it is destroyed, we can vision a tomorrow of it emerging stronger and better,” he told local media.
“It will be accomplished. So maintain the optimism, keep hope alive, and we will overcome this challenge, and we will reconstruct stronger,” he said.