Nowhere for the living, nowhere for the dead

A Westmoreland family is caught between grief and survival in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.

On Friday, as they gathered to lay their brother, Cleveland Wayne – affectionately called “Gramps”— to rest, they faced the agonizing reality that they cannot bring their 80-year-old mother, Meriaham Campbell-Jeffery, home from Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital.

Family members said Cleveland, 55, is among the 45 people reported to have lost their lives during Hurricane Melissa, which struck Jamaica on October 28.

The Office of Disaster Preparedness has yet to release an official list of the deceased or disclose the names of 16 persons still reported missing.

St Elizabeth recorded the highest number of fatalities with 18, followed by Westmoreland with 15. St James recorded six deaths, Hanover and Trelawny two each, and St Ann and Portland one each.

Gramps, a father, was reportedly checking on his livestock when he lost his life. The storm devastated his community, ripping through homes and leaving families without shelter.

For the Jefferys, their grief is compounded by their inability to bring their mother home. Her house, in Cottage district, Westmoreland, near the St Elizabeth border, was destroyed in the storm, and the family has only managed to patch together two makeshift board houses.

“We have nowhere safe to put her,” said son Marlon Jeffery. “We can’t take her because the house dem did mash down, and she is not eating, not sitting up,” he added.

“So I have been telling the hospital that we cannot take her because we cannot deal with her like how they can deal with her,” he continued.

The elderly woman—already battling several health conditions—was admitted to hospital before Hurricane Melissa after she suddenly stopped eating at home.

“If we even take her, we want a little place that is more convenient than here. Every day the hospital is pressuring me to take her, but I’m telling them that I can’t because we have a brother that just died in the storm,” he said.

The Jefferys’ struggle underscores the ongoing human cost of Hurricane Melissa. Even as communities begin the slow process of cleanup and rebuilding, families are forced to make impossible choices, balancing the urgent care of vulnerable loved ones, recovery and grief.

Brandon Thomas, CEO of BT Thomas Funeral Home in New Market, St Elizabeth, said scores of bodies remain in storage as families, still reeling from the storm, plead for more time to hold funerals.

With electricity out, roads blocked, and flooding still affecting parts of New Market, maintaining space for the deceased has become increasingly costly.

“My gas bill alone is about $25,000 every day, just to keep up with our customers,” Thomas said.

Find a proper venue

for a funeral

At least a dozen of the bodies stored at BT Thomas over the past month are directly linked to the hurricane, he said. Other bodies were scheduled for burial before Melissa struck, but with widespread devastation, families have been forced to wait. Many are still “hoping to find a proper venue for a funeral,” while others simply cannot afford one.

“We are in the same crisis, so we cannot pressure people,” Thomas added.

The devastation extends beyond funeral homes. Reverend Canon Hartley Perrin, Custos of Westmoreland and Rector of St Peter’s Anglican Church in Petersfield, recounted a recent service for a Petersfield woman. With her church destroyed, her funeral was held under a tent in her front yard, with interment at the back.

“It is heartbreaking,” Perrin said. “Families make all the plans – the programmes, the music – but suddenly the church isn’t there. It’s frightening.”

He compared the disruption to COVID-19 restrictions, except the issue is not fear, but the lack of venues. Perrin recalled the case of an elderly migrant who returned from the United States to spend her final days in Jamaica. Less than 24 hours after arriving, she fell ill and died. Her daughter has struggled to find a church for burial.

“There is hardly one to find because all the churches have been affected,” he said.

corey.robinson@gleanerjm.com