BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth — Chaos erupted in the streets of this hurricane-ravaged town on Thursday as the security forces struggled to prevent looting of businesses, including supermarkets.

Some police personnel opted to turn a blind eye while others were joined by soldiers to try and maintain order in the parish capital two days after it was devastated by Category 5 Hurricane Melissa.

“You have, like, 100-and-odd people looting. How do you expect me to run away all of them? What are we going to do, run them down and take away the goods and they kill me, take something and lick me in my head-back?” a policeman assigned to the Black River Police Station told the Jamaica Observer amid the chaos.

The Observer saw hundreds of people leaving supermarkets, wholesales, pharmacies and other stores in Black River with food, clothes and other supplies.

“No police can’t fight this battle with them. This come in like Haiti when Haiti mash up and you have to just stop and allow them to carry on,” the policeman added.

Mayor of Black River Richard Solomon, while not condoning the looting, said people are in desperate need of supplies, including food.

“It is a delicate balance… The hurricane hit us so hard on the coast that the back of the supermarkets were totally hit, so all their goods and supplies were found on roadways… so you found a lot of people going around picking up stuff, because as you would appreciate, they would have lost everything as their home,” he said.

“Persons are seizing the opportunity to pick up what they can off the ground. However, you have others being a little bit more forceful where they are trying to get into people’s properties to get all sorts of supplies, because I have heard some say that based on what is happening here it is going to take some time for us to get support for them,” he added.

“I am not encouraging looting. The JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) would have been trying their best, but they, too, would have been stretched, because they are with us from before the hurricane and they would have been here and wouldn’t have had the opportunity to get home,” Solomon said.

“It is a major task and it is something that is going to be difficult to manage at this point in time,” he added.

He pointed to the struggle in accessing relief supplies as the road leading into Black River was only partially cleared on Thursday.

“As it relates to relief supplies, it is sad to say our facility was totally destroyed, the municipal corporation was significantly damaged, so we don’t have any relief supplies, so we are appealing for any support and help,” he said.

“Persons would have been reaching out, but to get the effort here is part of the challenge. Our main focus right now is to have access coming in,” he added.

Solomon, the councillor for the New Market Division and a resident in Santa Cruz, said his house was severely damaged while he was stationed at the Emergency Operations Centre at Black River Hospital from Sunday.

“I understand the pain that people are feeling. I am feeling it too. I am still here pushing on,” he said.

When asked about plans to relocate essential services to other towns, given the devastation in Black River, Solomon said a short-term decision will have to be taken soon.

“In the interim, we have to sort of put back the pieces together and give support to the vulnerable at this point in time,” he said.

“It is early, but we definitely have to look at our essential services and how to structure them moving forward. When you look at the hospital, which is a critical service, it was badly damaged. I am very sympathetic to the staff that is there, because they would have been working overtime,” the mayor said.

“I would have heard the devastation setting in, but nonetheless they are still giving of their best and that speaks to the resilience as a people,” added Solomon.

He said plans are being made to create a new town for Black River further away from the shoreline, but there is no timeline.

“The prime minister indicated to me that we will now have to look at how we develop a nucleus of all the critical services moving forward away from the shoreline, because as we can appreciate we are in a hurricane belt, so we just have to be prepared and build back stronger and be more forward in terms of planning,” he said.

This man smiles as he makes off with bottles of liquor during general looting in Black River on Thursday.

People are seen outside this supermarket in Black River, St Elizabeth, leaving with goods during a looting spree on Thursday, two days after Hurricane Melissa ravaged the historic town.

This man walks through the streets of Black River, St Elizabeth, with a bag of goods on Thursday.