PORTLAND, Jamaica — The northeast Jamaica parish of Portland was spared the worst of the battering Hurricane Melissa delivered to the island more than a week ago, but a business establishment there is still feeling the pinch.

“Busness after the hurricane is kind of slow, things don’t fast enough,” Ricardo “Ric Boss” Oharo, the chef at a cookshop in Windsor Castle in the parish, told Observer Online when our news team visited the area on Friday.

Oharo explained that many residents have not been able to work since the hurricane, due to the impact of the storm on their employers, and therefore aren’t able to spend as they did before.

He also noted the rising operational costs, especially the price of fuel needed to run the shop’s generator. He said he keeps this in mind when setting prices for customers.

“Everything affordable right here so. It’s an affordable place we don’t kill people,” he said.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall on October 28 in the southwest of Jamaica as a ferocious Category 5 storm with estimated 185 mph winds and torrential rainfall, killing more than 30 people and leaving nearly 80 per cent of Jamaica Public Service (JPS) customers in darkness.

Many sections of Portland are still in darkness since the storm.

However, despite business being slow, Oharo expressed gratitude that the impact of the storm on the parish was not worse and empathized with those affected in the worst hit parishes.

Oharo knows the devastating impact that hurricanes can bring, as he shared that his community has faced repeated damage from storms over the years.

“Every year when the storm would a come we would a get damage over here. Houses would blow down… place flood out,” he said.

He recalled that the area took the brunt of the impact when Hurricane Beryl hit in July of last year, but this time, they were spared major damage.

“We give God thanks still,” shared Oharo. “Everything thing is intact, giving thanks!”

– Carlysia Ramdeen