NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR | The last ‘Melissa’?

In any ordinary year, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness’ historic return to Jamaica House would have been the standout story. After polls throughout the year showing a shifting political tide, Holness and the Jamaica Labour Party held on to secure the party’s first third consecutive term since 1944. This positions Holness to become the country’s longest-serving prime minister.

But 2025 was anything but ordinary.

Less than two months after Jamaicans cast their ballots, the nation was thrust into crisis as the world watched in horror while an unprecedented Category 5 hurricane bore down on the island. Hurricane Melissa made landfall on October 28, displacing thousands and leaving widespread devastation in its wake. Critical infrastructure was severely damaged, with roads washed away, water systems crippled, and power and communication networks knocked offline.

The storm affected roughly 900,000 people, damaging nearly 156,000 homes, including 24,000 total losses, and an estimated US$8.8 billion in physical damage. Hundreds of churches were flattened, scores of schools ripped apart and many critical community infrastructure and support systems wiped out. Agriculture, tourist attractions, heritage sites and hospitals were also not spared.

The aftermath also saw a deadly leptospirosis outbreak with at least 14 suspected deaths.

As recovery efforts continue, Jamaica faces the looming threat of even stronger and more intense hurricanes driven by climate change. For many families – some still rebuilding after Category 4 Hurricane Beryl in 2024 – the struggle to piece their lives back together has begun anew. Others are grappling with how to find normalcy in this era of climate-driven devastation.

“It hurt, but yuh cya even think about it,” Owen Smith, a fisherman from Parottee in St Elizabeth told The Sunday Gleaner last week.

His home was destroyed during Hurricane Beryl in July 2024. In the aftermath, he received a two-bedroom house from the charity Food For The Poor, located about a mile and a half inland in the coastal community.

That home, however, was almost completely destroyed by Hurricane Melissa. Only the bathroom wall remains, leaving the 42-year-old father of two, homeless for a second time in less than a year.

“It nuh easy fi two storm come pon straight and yuh lose yuh house, yuh lose whatsoever inna it, barely a year apart. It hurt, man, but yuh cya think about it, else yuh can traumatise more and more,” he said.

Smith explained that while he is staying in his mother’s house, which was not as severely damaged in the storm, his wife and children are staying with relatives in neighbouring Middle Quarters.

He is hoping for a “quick recovery”, even as community members grapple with the long power outage, disruptions, they say they have become all too familiar with since Hurricane Beryl.

“Dem more keep up this time, they have the experience for being without likkle cold water for a long time or a little fan for a time, [but] it still difficult,” he said.

THE NEW REALITY

Jamaica is now living in the reality of climate change, according to Professor Michael Taylor, a climate scientist at The University of the West Indies, Mona.

Speaking to The Sunday Gleaner, Taylor described Hurricane Melissa as a “wake-up call” and said there was a clear “climate change imprint” on the storm.

“The kind of conditions that gave rise to Beryl and Melissa will likely still exist at the beginning of the next hurricane season,” he said.

Rising global temperatures, which warm ocean waters, can increase the likelihood of extreme events like those seen in October 2025 by as much as six times, Taylor noted.

He pointed to research conducted by World Weather Attribution, involving scientists from around the globe, which found that heavy five-day rainfall events like those associated with Melissa are about 30 per cent more intense and roughly twice as likely in today’s climate – now 1.3°C warmer than in pre-industrial times. The intensity of rainfall linked to hurricanes such as Melissa was also estimated to have increased by more than nine per cent.

The back-to-back impact of hurricanes Beryl and Melissa has underscored how frequently extreme weather events are now occurring.

“You’re talking about a clustering of extreme hurricanes,” Taylor said. “We now have to become aware of the lived reality, the new lived reality. What we used to think was far off is what we are living through now.”

He added: “And, at the same time, I’d also say, bearing in mind that frequent storms, heavier storms, earlier storms are only one side of the lived reality. Extreme heat is also there. Flooding events, you know, one-day flooding events is also there. The sea level rise, which made Melissa’s storm surge worse, but which has a slow effect of eroding coastlines, is also there,” he said.

Taylor stressed that adaptation is critical if Jamaica is to navigate the impacts of climate change, and that such efforts must be multifaceted.

“Adaptation has to be across all of life, though, because, as Melissa has shown us, all of life is affected,” he stressed.

While significant focus is often placed on protecting agriculture, he argued that adaptation efforts must also extend to education, health, insurance, coastal protection, and the safeguarding of livelihoods.

“We have to do it now as part of our routine planning,” he told The Sunday Gleaner. “What about insurance and insurability of things? What about coastal protection? What about making sure livelihoods are protected?”

Despite Jamaica being a minimal contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, Taylor said the country must still protect its forests and natural assets, which act as vital buffers against climate impacts. He also urged continued advocacy for a global loss and damage fund, alongside stronger building standards to make homes more hurricane-resilient.

“There’s a whole range of things that we need to do, beginning from the individual all the way up. It’s not a matter of deciding we’re helpless because we’re the minimum emitters and all we can do is sit and wait for somebody else to give us a handout. Not if we want our country to survive – and move ahead in-between,” he said.

Hurricane Melissa is unlikely to ever be used again as the name of an Atlantic tropical storm or hurricane, following its historic and catastrophic impact on Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean.

Storm names in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific basins are reused every six years, meaning names assigned during the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season would ordinarily return in 2031. Under that cycle, names such as Andrea, Chantal and Fernand are expected to reappear. Melissa, however, is expected to be removed from the list.

Storm names are typically retired when a system is particularly deadly or devastating, to avoid confusion and out of respect for the victims. Decisions on name retirement are made by the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO’s) Hurricane Committee, which meets annually in the spring. During the meeting, committee members review storms from the previous year, vote on which names should be retired, and select replacement names.

Melissa meets multiple criteria for retirement. The hurricane caused at least 45 deaths in Jamaica and 43 in Haiti, and left widespread destruction across several Caribbean territories. It was the most intense tropical storm system globally in 2025 and the strongest hurricane ever to make landfall in Jamaica.

The unprecedented strength and impact of Hurricane Melissa place it alongside other historic storms whose names were permanently removed from use because of their catastrophic consequences.

While the WMO has not yet formally announced its decision, the scale of destruction and loss of life associated with Hurricane Melissa makes its retirement from future hurricane seasons all but certain.

Rebuilding after disaster

Tarah Kelly, of Beeston Spring, Westmoreland, salvaged pieces of board from his two-bedroom home after it was destroyed by the hurricane. With help from a community member, he rebuilt a one-bedroom structure on the property.

Proudly showing his handiwork last week, the painter told The Sunday Gleaner, “Ya fi learn fi help yuhself.”

Although officials have visited and promised assistance, Kelly said he has received none so far. Without a cellphone, he added, he has no way of knowing how to access aid.

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has said resilient reconstruction is the final phase of the Government’s multi-phase national rebuilding strategy. This includes resilient housing, rebuilding schools, hospitals and public buildings to high-resilience standards, climate-smart roads and bridges, coastal and river defence systems, stronger public utilities, and more resilient digital and transport infrastructure. He has also outlined plans to use pre-built, containerised modular homes to rapidly replace housing lost to Hurricane Melissa.

For Crystal Morris, rendered homeless by the hurricane, relief came on the day her now one-month-old son was born, when she received a donated container home. The unit, provided through the Adopt-a-Family initiative spearheaded by Westmoreland Eastern MP Dr Dayton Campbell, houses Morris, her two sons, her mother Marcia Robinson, and her teenage sister.

Though modest, the one-room unit with a functional bathroom represents a vital first step in recovery.

“Wi 100 per cent better,” Robinson said. “In all things, give thanks.”

Sympathising with the many families who are still trying to rebuild, Richard Mullings, president of the Incorporated Masterbuilders Association of Jamaica (IMAJ), told The Sunday Gleaner that Hurricane Melissa presents an opportunity for the country to reassess and enforce its building codes to mitigate future disasters.

“You can have a code, but, if the authorities don’t enforce it, if there are many people who go around it ... then it won’t be effective,” he said, pointing to widespread non-compliance in western parishes.

Mullings also criticised the slow pace of reconstruction, citing long-standing weaknesses in the public sector’s capacity to deliver major infrastructure projects.

“Our public infrastructure, our public servants, the things that make the country run, the governance as it relates to infrastructure projects and so on, was woefully inadequate long before Melissa. Now we feeling the effects of it,” said Mullings. “It doesn’t mean that people aren’t trying. It’s just the reality of the resources that we have now.”

He stressed that poor oversight ultimately leads to quality failures, regardless of who the contractor is.

Psychological impact

In Whitehouse, Westmoreland – just a few miles from where the hurricane made landfall – Kirk Williams stood at his gate which had a ‘$300 ice sold here’ sign attached.

The distinct hum of a generator infiltrates his conversation with his neighbour, Pasmore Ebanks, as they discuss the added expense of gas amid ongoing power outages.

Williams, 27, said Guyanese volunteers helped repair his roof, while Ebanks is replacing his zinc roofing with concrete. Yet, both men said rebuilding structures has been easier than coping with the emotional toll left by the storm.

“Right now, mi a mad,” Ebanks said bluntly last week, describing lingering trauma. “It tek mi a week and odd fi eat a good meal. A just look mi look pon di food and nuh want it.”

Williams said he continues to have nightmares about shovelling water from his flooded home and admitted he has struggled to cope.

“From the storm, every day mi drink,” he told The Sunday Gleaner. “It stressing.”

Although the storm has passed, its impact remains deeply embedded in the nervous system of many Jamaicans, according to psychologist Dr Leahcim Semaj. He said trauma is surfacing as anxiety, emotional exhaustion, and increased interpersonal conflict among both adults and children.

“The amount of interpersonal violence that has occurred since the hurricane is incredible,” he said. “The least little thing, people blaze up.”

For Stacy Ann Myers of Parottee, St Elizabeth, the trauma is far more personal. Her 27-year-old son, Chemar Salmon, disappeared while attempting to cross a breakaway swollen by floodwater, two days after surviving the onslaught of Hurricane Melissa.

Witnesses say he was returning home when he tried to cross the flooded, damaged road. They last saw Salmon strike his head on a rock before being pulled under by strong currents.

Two months later, Myers remains without closure, clinging to a fragile hope that he may be found.

“If a even the clothes – if I got the clothes – then I’d be at peace,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.

Salmon, a fisherman and the family’s breadwinner, is believed to be among the 13 unnamed people officials last reported remain missing in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa. A total of 45 people have been reported dead, including three elderly siblings who died in Springfield St Elizabeth, who were trapped in their home by fallen trees and debris.

Myers said efforts to search for her son – the first of her five children – have been delayed, with the authorities turning up a month after he was last seen.

Semaj said families who have lost loved ones need sustained emotional support, stressing that recovery extends beyond physical rebuilding.

“Some things you don’t get over, but you ultimately get through. It’s important for people who are connected to those individuals to keep in touch with them, provide an opportunity to talk about what they are feeling, and provide them with alternatives, give them opportunities to start moving forward,” he said.

Further, he noted that international studies show that 20 to 40 per cent of affected populations develop trauma-related disorders in the aftermath of major hurricanes. And, in disaster zones, productivity drops between 10 and 35 per cent for six to 24 months. As such, the government has a responsibility to create the opportunities and enabling environment for trained professionals to support those affected.

“Building back the roads, and the buildings, that’s just Part One,” he said. “The bigger part is the social and psychological connection – to make sure that we’re better able to resist the next hurricane.”

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com