According to CBS News (October 29, 2025), Hurricane Melissa was “The most powerful hurricane to lash the island since record-keeping began 174 years ago and one of the strongest Atlantic storms ever recorded, Melissa struck Jamaica with sustained winds of 185 mph…” ABC News echos by stating that Melissa was “the most powerful hurricane to strike the Caribbean island nation and one of the strongest on record in the Atlantic Basin.”

St. Elizabeth, the parish of my birth, was one of the harshest hit areas on the island. And so, Melissa feels deeply personal. My nearest and dearest young and old (as young as 4 and as old as 89 years) survived “one of the strongest Atlantic storms ever recorded.”

Though very few lives were lost – at testament to Jamaica’s crisis management strategy and population cooperation – these initial post-Melissa days are delicate, and could transform the death toll and escalate the cost of rebuilding the material infrastructure of the society and attend to the recovery of the people. Jamaica’s National Anthem contains the refrain “Land We Love,” which acts as a sentiment and a statement of action, to heal and rebuild the land and the people.

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