What was once a bustling haven for escovitch fish, lobster, bammy, and conch soup along Jamaica’s south coast now lies in piles of debris. Scott’s Cove Fish Park, a landmark on the border of Westmoreland and St Elizabeth, was an unfamiliar strip when Observer Online visited on Friday.

The area was destroyed after Category 5 Hurricane Melissa tore through Jamaica’s south coast on Tuesday, October 28, 2025, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.

“It’s just an act of God…We can’t do nothing. We have to thank God that our lives are spared, that is the greatest and that we can pick up our pieces and start back all over again,” said Christopher, a resident of nearby Fustic Grove.

Christopher has operated a stall at Scott’s Cove for years so for him, the loss is personal.

“Oh my God, devastation, start all over again, including myself. I’m just looking, can’t do anything about it. I only thank God that my life has been spared,” he said. “I lost everything. I lost everything out here and plus over the home. Everything.”

Christopher recounted the terrifying experience as the Category 5 hurricane, with its accompanying storm surge, slammed into the coast. He had heeded early warnings on Monday, leaving the cove at 1:30 pm. But his home, too, was in the path of destruction.

“I slept very good in the night and when I wake up in the morning about 6 o’clock, 6:30 then believe you me, the trauma begun. I couldn’t move. I stand in the house and it came from the east direction and slam onto the top of the roof and remove that. Then it go down the road and then it make a likkle spin and take up the other rest,” he recalled.

Frozen in fear, he took shelter behind a post as the wind ripped his home apart.

“There’s no way I could move…Everything fly from over my head and mi haffi just stand up same way, mi cyah do nothing at all. The door slam right in and just lick off. Everything mi have on the table just lick off,” Christopher shared.

“Mi windows gone, mi roof gone, mi clothes, everything gone and mi just standing and looking and can’t say nothing. I was just asking the good Lord to save me and he did,” he continued.

Scott’s Cove, which has been a fixture on Jamaica’s south coast since the 1970s, has long been a cultural and culinary landmark for locals. But with the entire strip in ruin, Christopher is unsure how or when rebuilding will begin.

“I don’t have any money, I can only speak for myself,” he said. “Government now have to chip in, the Government have to try but believe you me, it’s more than what [they] can bear.”