WITH communities reduced to rubble, trees stripped bare, and once-popular tourist spots left unrecognisable, Westmoreland — once known for its lush greenery and thriving coastline — now lies in ruins, resembling a wasteland.

This devastation comes in the wake of the powerful Category Five Hurricane Melissa that made landfall in New Hope, Westmoreland, at 12:02 pm on Tuesday, October 28, 2025, bringing with it sustained winds of 185 miles per hour.

Just miles away, in McAlpine, the storm’s fury was felt at its worst. There, an entire community has been flattened, leaving residents to pick through the remnants of their homes and their lives.

For Adrian Cooke, who has lived in McAlpine for more than 20 years, the loss is almost unbearable.

“Mi buy over $30,000 worth of food, see the bucket there, everything gone. The house weh mi spend over $2 million [on], wreck up…Everything we lose; no stove, no fridge, no television, nothing,” Cooke told the Jamaica Observer three days after the hurricane pummelled the Caribbean island.

Recalling the moment he and his wife had to abandon their home and seek shelter with a nearby neighbour, Cooke said: “The last place we deh was the bathroom, and we had to run out, and it lift up same time as we run out…Twenty minutes and all of we flat out.”

The 60-year-old said the devastation was the “biggest disaster mi ever see compared to Gilbert”.

His wife Lovina agreed.

“It rough. This bigger than Gilbert,” she said.

Likewise, his neighbour Raymond Blackwood said Hurricane Melissa has turned the community into “desolation”.

A section of the once-lush Westmoreland is a picture of desolation last Friday, following the passage of Hurricane Melissa. (Photos: Gavin Jones)

“I have never seen this in my life before. I’ve experienced some storms, but not like this one. It come in like the whole place turn into desolation. Some people right down here, if dem nuh talk and laugh and drink something dem nuh comfortable, cause everything is like a big old stress deh pon wi head, so we need some help right here to build back to start over again,” the 75-year-old said.

Not far from Blackwood, Terry-Ann Jeffery sat quietly among the pieces of what she called home just a week ago. Her demeanour reeked of defeat.

“Mi lose everything, ah just mi clothes mi find back inna one garbage bag. Mi a try wash dem out so mi can get something to put on,” she told the Sunday Observer.

“Mi run out, haffi come out cause mi did tie it down…It was a disaster. Mi glad mi live fi see today,” she said.

Jeffery, her two sisters, cousin, and six-year-old son sought refuge in a nearby church, which also lost its roof during the hurricane.

“Mi never take it so serious, is the first mi ah experience this since I come here,” she added.

Some distance up the slope, Keisha Lawson stressed that no amount of preparation could have saved them.

“A disaster. We lost everything…Down yah almost sink out…Anything you do, it couldn’t help you. We tie down the house, batten down the window, nuh matter wah you do,” she said.

“A di second part of the storm a di wickedest part. Sun come out when the hurricane pass; we see sunlight and mi seh, ‘Look here, nuh go outside enuh. Memba seh the man seh when you see that, it a go come back wickeder.’ Dat deh time deh now all concrete collapse,” Lawson continued.

Most of the residents have not had a proper meal since the hurricane hit. With Whitehouse, Westmoreland, running low on supplies, the community has had to band together to share what little food remains.

“If mi cut one banana mi share it with my neighbour…Or cut one piece of pumpkin, if we have it, and we eat it…Maybe we cook likkle spaghetti with the saltfish and throw likkle oil and mix it up and eat it. We nuh have nothing better right now,” Cooke shared.

“This is the community; we try to be close to each other because if you don’t do me good, mi nah go do you good. You have to do me good and I do it back to you. What goes around comes around, but thank God that we are alive,” Blackwood said, adding, “We down on our face.”

“We need some food right now down here,” he added.

One of the main pillars keeping the community afloat is Charmaine Carlene Walcott-Campbell, who, despite suffering damage to her own home, offered shelter to her neighbours during the hurricane and has been feeding those in need.

“Everybody in the same problem. I had likkle meat in the fridge…Mi cook and who come get. Anybody come and beg mi, mi seh, ‘See it deh,’ and mi seh fi carry unnu plate come,” she said, noting that they eat a meal per day.

Walcott-Campbell, who owns a small shop in the area, has helped to sustain the community with her stock. She has made efforts to replenish her stock but has been unable to source food and water. With food and water running out, they are appealing for government assistance.

Despite the devastation, the residents of McAlpine remain resilient and hopeful.

“We good man. Memba we feel seh wi never did a go live to see the next day,” Lawson said.

“We give thanks same way,” Walcott-Campbell added.

A Westmoreland house in ruins last Friday, after the passage of Hurricane Melissa

Adrian Cooke examines the devastation left behind by Hurricane Melissa.

Seventy-five-year-old Raymond Blackwood says he has never experienced any storm like Hurricane Melissa.

Residents (from left) Keisha Lawson, Charmaine Carlene Walcott-Campbell, and Riana Sanderson are in high spirit despite having lost everything when Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica last Tuesday.