‘We need food, we have no food’ – desperation takes hold in Jamaica after hurricane

As the death toll rises, residents of Black River are still searching for loved ones while they also battle to survive, days after Hurricane Melissa made this Jamaican port city ground zero of the devastation seen across the Caribbean.

Residents here say they have been living in a state of chaos the last three days since Melissa slammed into them as one of the most powerful category five storms ever recorded in the region.

The fierce winds and storm surge that barrelled through here have decimated nearly everything, leaving roads unusable and a trail of destruction that has them increasingly desperate and isolated with no electricity or running water.

Capsized boats lie kerbside. Brick buildings are split in half. Giant sheets of metal are twisted between tree branches. Vehicles sit in crumbled pieces.

Residents who spoke to the BBC said they have seen no aid trucks in the area so far and described having to eat what food they can find in debris by the roads in the coastal town, nearly 150km (93 miles) west of the capital, Kingston.

Others made their way inside battered supermarkets, taking what they could for themselves. Some, who climbed on top of one partially destroyed market, tossed food and bottles of water down below, where people gathered with arms outstretched.

“We have to use whatever we see here, on the street and also in the supermarket,” Demar Walker explained, sitting in a shaded area down the street from the store to escape the heat and 80% humidity.

He said he and others had to climb into the market due to its roof caving in and took what they could. They tossed water and items to others also in need.

“We didn’t be selfish, we had to throw food to other people.”

Nearby, others told the BBC of a local pharmacy being looted in Black River, describing anarchy as people ran in and out carrying armfuls of drugs and alcohol.

“I saw items covered in mud being hauled out,” Aldwayne Tomlinson told the BBC. “At first, I thought the place was still open, but then I really got a second glance.

“I heard a lady say: ‘Mi need go get some alcohol.’ That’s when I knew they were looting the pharmacy as well.”

Just down the road, a woman standing atop a pile of debris describes the situation there as “chaos, chaos. Total. No food. No water”.

“We don’t have access to money. We need help. No help has come,” Chegun Braham continued.

One couple told the BBC that they owned multiple stores in the area, several of which they said had been looted. They are now standing guard outside one of their stores in the hope of preventing future thefts.

A short walk from the market, Jimmy Esson leaned against a massive metal beam that had been knocked to the ground.

“I lost everything, all my things,” he said. “We need food. We have no food.”

Survival is the primary concern on most people’s minds here. The other is the rising death toll. Officials in Jamaica said on Thursday that at least 19 people had died in the country, a big jump from the five that had been counted the day before. Another 30 have died in neighbouring Haiti due to the storm.

“My community, we have dead bodies there,” Mr Walker said.

He said he, like many others in the area, still has not heard from family and doesn’t know if they made it out of the storm alive. Mr Walker is stuck in Black River, sleeping in whoever’s house is still standing that will accept him, he says, while his eight-year-old son is in Westmoreland, the next parish over.

Westmoreland shares Jamaica’s western coast, along with Black River in the St Elizabeth parish, and was also severely damaged by Melissa.

“There’s no way of getting to my family to find out if they’re OK,” he said as his eyes began to swell. Along with the unusable roads making travel difficult, there is little to no cell phone service and no electricity or running water in many hard-hit spots.