Orville Taylor | Melissa ... ‘the name still scares me shiftless’

True to her name, she is like the American sprinter. Overlooked for the past two global events, she hit 2025 with a storm. Forgive me the pun;,but after Melissa Jefferson went through the entire 2025 undefeated, the name still scares me shiftless.

By now, we should be feeling the effects of Hurricane Melissa. Among our natural hazards, only earthquakes are more unpredictable than the paths of tropical cyclones. It might be a bit too late. But take no cheques (and the ATMs might not work). The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) understands how important it is to cut power.

On Thursday, its chief executive officer announced that the lights will be off. Better the JPS do it than Mel. Try as you may, this is one occasion when a ‘throw-up’ wire after a disconnection will be useless. However, if there happens to be current near your house and you have none; do not attempt to self-reconnect.

If you happen to be in the vicinity of downed live wires, or one falls suddenly near to you, making the ground energised, DO NOT RUN! Shuffle away. Not even Usain, despite his surname, can outrun electricity. If there is pooling, and you have to go through water with fallen lines to rescue your donkey, better to leave it in danger than have two dead asses.

Melissa is slow moving, so she is already acculturated to Jamaica. Unless you do not live here, there is going to be flooding in places near you. Not a time for,‘I told you so!’ Much of the problem was caused by poor engineering, with insensitivity to the movement of surface water. Yet, there are waterways where the agencies have failed to act. Still, the nastiness of others is a major factor.

Stagnant water really ought to be avoided. Residents in St Thomas, and other coastal parishes, near crocodile habitats, should assume that if you dip a stick in the water, and it comes out wet, then these creatures are there.

Unless you have a well-established catchment system in your home as some people in Manchester do,do not drink rainwater from the roof. If pushed to use it, filter it through gauze, cotton, or natural fabric and then boil it. Clear water does not mean clean water.

The Ministry of Health gives guidelines regarding how much bleach to use in order to make water safe. However, given that some ‘retail’ bleach have different concentrations, boiling is a safer bet.

Finally, if there is running water at a higher level than you are accustomed to, do not step into it. Too many fools have overestimated the weight or power of their vehicles. Shin-deep water on an ordinary roadway, such as Osborne Store and Yallahs, can drag a pedestrian away faster than a dollar in a drug addict’s hand. In riverbeds and fords, undercurrents are deceptive, and even if you swim like a fish, you will reach the bottom of the stream before you squint.

Nothing apart from another human being is worth jumping into water to save.

Salt fish and mackerel are Jamaican staples. However, if they get wet or soaked by outside water, ‘dash dem weh!’ Often, rainwater contains pathogens. People have died from leptospirosis from rainwater contamination. Tinned goods are generally safe after being soaked. Please check the expiry dates! Before opening the bully beef, check if there is any smell coming from the seam. Whether it is a good scent as if freshly opened or it is slightly touched, ‘dashiweh!’

Wash all tins before opening. This is something to do even if the cans are as dry as the eyes of a pickpocket. Use powder or liquid soap and add a bit of bleach if they were under water. If you can still get rubbing alcohol, keep some in your stash. It cleans everything except a dirty mind or bad character.

With no electricity, your corners do not have to be dark. Candles work. However, a small jam bottle with a metal lid can be partially filled with used, strained cooking oil. Bore a hole in the top, insert a strand from a mop, as a wick, and place it in a safe place. This is a decent substitute for a Home Sweet Home lamp and certainly less smelly than the Kitchen Bitch. Bottle torches are dangerous.

Alternatively, a small jar, with rice or fine gravel as a base, a Q-tip as a wick, a layer of water and about half inch of oil, will provide moderate light.

Stay indoors when the rain and wind are raging. If the wind can rip off a nailed-down sheet of zinc, you can bet your life that it can pitch you to your death. Moreover, a loose object can easily be a deadly projectile. Literally ride out the storm if you can. There is nothing you can do outside until it is over. Be super careful.

Likely, there will be a state of emergency (SOE). Where the security forces drop the SOE, it does not mean that you ‘grounds out’ if you follow their instructions. Comply, unless it is impossible to do so, without endangering yourself.

Anyway, as you go through the recovery, take this as a lesson to learn to do basic human things. A man cannot be a ‘baffan’ or ‘mampala’. Even if he can write an excellent business plan, legal document, or speech, that will not help him to cut a branch, cook a meal, use a hammer, or do anything, which our ancestors had to do on the continent and plantation.

Stay safe Jamaica, and thanks to all who cheered on Monday.

Orville Taylor is senior lecturer at Department of Sociology at The University of the West Indies, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.