ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — Following the wreckage left behind by Hurricane Melissa, mothers in Black River are facing desperate conditions as they search for food, water, and basic supplies for their children.

When Observer Online visited the town on Thursday, much of the south coast town was in ruins, buildings flattened to the ground, and thick mud covering what was once the main roads.

Residents sat quietly on the outskirts of what remained of the structure of some buildings, clutching bags filled with whatever belongings they managed to save.

Among them was Jheanile Richards, her clothes, skin, and hair stained with mud. Cradling her one month old baby wrapped safely in a blanket, Richards said she had been in town for five hours trying to find diapers and food.

“It rough man rough, hungry ago kill we, we are going to have to take time and use the little something dem weh we have,” she shared as her baby wailed.

Nearby, Sashoya Wynter, another mother, said she left her children with her mother while she searched for food. Wynter lost her home during Hurricane Melissa and is now living in an unfinished building.

“A two baby me have and right now me a struggle with them,” Wynter said. “There is no food, nothing! What about the people who get nothing at all and people who don’t want to share?”

“Me feel it for people. Me even feel it for myself,” she said.

Richards said she worries for her baby’s health, explaining that she only has dry food left.

“Mi come out here with not even one hundred dollar and mi seh mi have to get one pack a pamper for my baby. God is so good mi get two,” she said, smiling faintly.

Both mothers said their most urgent need, aside from food, is water.

“We don’t have no water at all. Right now for me to bathe I don’t know how I’m going to do it,” Wynter said, glancing down at her dirt-stained clothing.

She also expressed concern about the unfinished building where she and others are sheltering.

“A wet ply we have to be sleeping on. It’s hard, we go through it. At one point we have to fret if anybody would break in or something,” she said.

Wynter added that eight people are now staying in the structure, all clinging to faith and hope for better days.

“We a sleep with fear and we a sleep with God same way. The only thing we have is God at this moment,” she said.