On the morning of October 27, 2025, septuagenarian Charles Ferguson told his cousin he would try to consume the milk, crackers, and cranberry juice she had sent him. It was the last time anyone heard from him.

The following day, when Hurricane Melissa tore through Cave Mountain, Westmoreland, the frail, 78-year-old man who lived alone was unable to escape. Up to last Friday his body was still inside his house as efforts by his family and neighbours to reach the relevant authorities continued.

Ferguson, who residents say was well known in the Kentucky district of Cave Mountain, lived in a small wooden house perched miles up in the hills. The journey to his home from Cave Flat below is long and punishing — a climb along treacherous, narrow roads that have become even more difficult to navigate since the storm.

“It look like a cave the house cave in with him because he was a weak individual, him can’t walk come out here so,” said his cousin, 78-year-old Winsome McPherson, who fought back tears as she spoke to the Jamaica Observer on Friday.

McPherson, who lives nearby, said she last spoke with Ferguson on the morning before the hurricane when her grandson had carried the food to him, as he often did.

“He said he would try to eat it,” she said.

“I don’t know if him get anything to eat.”

But when the hurricane struck, she feared the worst as the area was directly hit by Melissa’s outer bands, with high winds and heavy rains lashing the steep hillsides.

While the exact cause of his death is not yet known, McPherson believes that due to the elderly man’s immobility and health, he would have struggled to escape if the house started to collapse.

“I kinda expected it, enuh,” she admitted quietly.

“I expected that anyhow the hurricane came he wouldn’t survive because who would carry him up? Who would rescue him?”

When asked whether efforts were made to assist Ferguson to relocate before the hurricane hit, she said, “He would not be able to come up unless somebody carry him, but we wouldn’t know it would be this bad, enuh, they didn’t tell us the full story of this thing. Even a tornado was in this area and even the eye open on us right here.”

McPherson explained that Ferguson had been in declining health for some time and had once shared the home with another man in his 50s. However, she said that man died a few months ago, leaving Ferguson alone in the wooden structure that had been his refuge for decades. Now that same home has become a grim reminder of isolation and vulnerability.

“He has been up there for four days and nothing. It’s overwhelming, it’s like a dream, it’s like a show, it’s just really terrible,” McPherson said, her voice breaking.

The roads leading to Ferguson’s property have been badly damaged, leaving residents fearful and frustrated. They say they have tried to contact emergency officials, but access remains limited due to landslides, washed-out tracks, and no access to cell service. However, McPherson hopes help will soon come, before the situation becomes even more distressing.

“I saw one crow yesterday [Thursday] and that mean seh it’s an inspection before all a them dive down, so between now and tomorrow you going see crow and they going pick at him…Jesus, have mercy my God, no sah,” she said, struggling to hold back the tears.

She described Ferguson as a cheerful and generous man, known for his herbal remedies.

“Charles was a jolly person and he was always a medicinal man. He would boil medicine for people, his likkle roots and things like that, and he would give medicine when you had pain and things like that — and that was the type of person he was,” she said.

She added that his death has left the small, close-knit community in shock.

“Dying like this is terrible,” she said softly. “I could never wish for him to die this way, no, not this way.”

As the hills of Cave Mountain remain cut off and recovery efforts continue across Westmoreland, McPherson said that she can only wait — and hope that help will soon arrive to bring Ferguson’s body down from the mountain he called home.