LIKE other communities in St Elizabeth, Accompong took a battering from Hurricane Melissa, so much so that one resident shared that he felt the historic maroon village in the hills of the Cockpit Country would have been obliterated.

“I didn’t think I was going to make it out alive,” the resident, who requested anonymity, said last Thursday.

“Based on what I experienced, I thought Accompong was going to be wiped off the map,” he added.

Category 5 Melissa, spewing 185-miles per hour winds, slammed into Jamaica’s south-western coast on October 28, 2025, leaving a trail of death and destruction in Westmoreland, St Elizabeth, Manchester, St James, Hanover, Trelawny, and sections of St Ann.

Last Thursday, colonel of the Accompong Maroons, Richard Currie, said the settlement was significantly affected by a “giant tornado”.

Currie said Accompong had not yet received hurricane relief supplies from the Government; however, he acknowledged that the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) dropped off some supplies last Tuesday.

Additionally, he said the community has received relief aid from friends, partners, and supporters.

“I got a text message from a minister of government and he made mention of supplies that should be headed our way. We look forward to that. The Jamaica Defence Force made some drops on Tuesday. Those packages were coming from Food for the Poor and thank you to the JDF team for assisting to deliver the packages to us,” Currie told the Jamaica Observer.

“We continue to look forward to whatever comes, through whether Opposition or Government. We have been in touch with the honourable Mark Golding. He did a fly over and assisted in making a few calls, so we look forward to continued support and communication in this great humanitarian effort that is required for the western part of Jamaica,” he added.

“Approximately 80 per cent of homes are uninhabitable. Either the roofs are totally torn off or the structures were obliterated. If you look around, you would see the ravage that was caused by the hurricane. It was a very violent storm, almost a giant tornado, which is the description most persons have given, with the sheer velocity of the wind and projectiles,” Currie told the Sunday Observer while sorting hurricane relief packages to be delivered to the maroons.

He shared that people were shaken by Hurricane Melissa, adding that some of them might have even developed mental stress.

“I think there are a lot of persons, particularly elders, who are still in trauma. They are shaken up. Not only do we have a few physical injuries, we also have people suffering mentally from the displacement and just the sheer violence of the storm,” he said.

“In terms of relief assistance, that was very slow in coming in the first few days. We have a few friends who made the journey up to deliver much-needed supplies. Big up to the Reggae Hikers and people like Kevin Burke, Kaysian, Kenia, Paula-Ann Porter and Professor Niaah.

“We have had entities that have since come in, such a Global Empowerment, Aerial Recovery, and Samaritan’s Purse. Quite a few international agencies have since responded to our appeals and the appeals of our friends with the Maroon Diaspora. Now relief is coming in steadily,” Currie said.

He pointed out that the main needs of the people of Accompong at this time are food, water, and shelter.

“We have been distributing a lot of tarpaulins to help those without roofs to provide some temporary solution so they can actually go back into their spaces and not have their personal items damaged more than they already are. Additional rain that comes behind the system is causing additional stress because persons’ belongings are still being wet and destroyed. That is heart-wrenching for the majority of persons,” Currie said.

He shared that the community has been giving priority to the elderly, providing them with “one or two meals per day” at a distribution centre which operates almost like a headquarters for his Administration.

“Those are the priority individuals… Persons have nowhere to really cook because their houses have been destroyed. This is like a central hub for distribution and meals. Whatever it is, it comes through here,” he said of the centre.

Hurricane Melissa took the roof of the Accompong New Testament Assembly. (Photos: Gavin Jones)

Workmen repairing the hurricane-damaged roof of a house in Accompong last week.

This house in Accompong, St Elizabeth, was extensively damaged during Hurricane Melissa.

The roof of this small house in Accompong, St Elizabeth, went flying during Hurricane Melissa.

Accompong in the hills of St Elizabeth was lush prior to Hurricane Melissa. These days, the fields are scorched and naked.

Hurricane Melissa left this section of Accompong, St Elizabeth in ruin.

One of the many homes that was not spared by Hurricane Melissa in Accompong, St Elizabeth.

The roof of the Accompong Maroons Museum and Community Centre was ripped off and blown to another location in the community during Hurricane Melissa.