NEW HOLLAND, St Elizabeth — When Hezekiah Brown, 57, faced the strong winds from Category 5 Hurricane Melissa here on Tuesday, he hung on to a door for dear life until he was able to seek shelter at a neighbour’s residence.

“You see this door, so I had to put it and this doorjamb hold me, and when I saw that I could go through I took my time and went through. [Eventually] I ran next door and they put me up,” he told the Jamaica Observer while demonstrating how he braced himself during the passage of the weather system last week.

“It dangerous, man. The most dangerous [storm] we ever see. [Hurricane] Beryl nuh do me nutten. When Beryl blow [I stayed with my nephew] and you see the day when it done, me come here. The whole of this stand up solid, only some breadfruit trees did over next door [that] it [Beryl] put down,” he added.

He and his neighbours are among hundreds of householders whose homes were ravaged by the hurricane.

“This one yah dangerous, boss. Everywhere him put him foot, him throw down,” Brown said while pointing to the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa.

In the neighbouring area of Lacovia, Melissa Palmer hurriedly tried to get nails at a hardware store after walking several miles from her home.

“My business blow down. My father’s house roof, my mother’s roof is gone also. The whole place is wrecked. Jamaica is in chaos,” she said, before continuing her journey into Cuffies Pen.

Like many others, she endured “hell” during the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

“It is rough enuh, but we just have to keep it moving, and from you have life you have hope, so you just have to do what you have to do,” she said.

She expressed disappointment with people who are stealing from their neighbours, who also lost their roofs.

“Some people who have deck houses should stop stealing people’s zinc, because you cannot [steal] from your own; everybody is in the same chaos and you don’t lose anything, so leave people things alone,” said Palmer.

Hezekiah Brown demonstrates how he braced himself during the strong winds associated with Hurricane Melissa. Photo: Garfield Robinson

Melissa Palmer speaking with the Jamaica Observer on Thursday in Lacovia, St Elizabeth. Photo: Kasey Williams