WICKED was the adjective used in Accompong, St Elizabeth, to describe Category 5 Hurricane Melissa which destroyed almost every farm in the community and majority of the houses.

Now the farmers in the Maroon settlement are pleading for substantial assistance to get back on their feet.

“We are begging for help,” said farmer Andrew Rowe.

“I lost my housetop, my farm with ginger, dasheen, yam, and all those things. I farm pepper and the whole pepper field was wiped off the map. We don’t know where to pick up back from or where to start.

“It was wicked. It was like a tornado. I believe it destroyed 95 per cent of the houses and 100 per cent of farms. Farms were wiped out completely. It’s not good for the people up here. We need help. We need support. Our houses need to be set up back and we need some aid for our farms,” added Rowe.

Fellow farmer Neville White told the Jamaica Observer that the rain and wind associated with Melissa destroyed his crops.

“It damaged the farms bad, bad. All ginger, plantain, banana, dasheen mash up,” said White.

Meanwhile, Errol Williams, who is also a farmer, said he also had a storeroom which housed many items, including a sound system.

According to Williams, the hurricane dismantled his storeroom and blew down his sound system.

He said that Category 3 Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, which caused catastrophic damage across Jamaica when it hit the island, could not be compared to Hurricane Melissa.

“It was a massive storm. I never knew I would live it out. The hurricane came between 11:00 am and noon on the Tuesday [October 28]. When I look across the place and see some of the houses blow down, I said it looks like those people died in their house. I was inside my house at the time because I had bought some food and went inside. They said it was a Category 5 hurricane, so you must stay inside. When the breeze started to blow, it was extra.

“I heard something crying like a baby. I told my baby mother that somebody was out a door with a baby. When I peep through the window, it was the breeze and the storm making that sound. Mi seh, ‘a dead we dead now’,” Williams told the Observer.

He said he had food in his house but because he was kept very busy and was so terrified by the hurricane as it wreaked havoc, he lost his appetite.

“I couldn’t eat it because I feel seh a dead mi dead yah now. I had no appetite, worse when I look and see other people house blow down and turn over. I saw some big pieces of iron passing and dropping on people’s houses, bludum, blum, blum! The storm blow and wheel up like a tornado. This one came with every tool to pull down everything.

“When we believed it was finished, it came back from the other side and tek we. It confused me inside the house. The windows broke out and water start blow in. Mi bed wet up and everything inside the house wet up. My house top did not blow off and it was as if I was outside,” said Williams as he pointed out that he had to bail out a lot of water from the house while trying to keep his baby safe.

The sight of zinc nailed together and flying in the air made an indelible mark on Williams. He said a truck belonging to his cousin was turned over on its side by hurricane winds.

According to Williams, since the passage of Melissa residents of Accompong have been dealing with mosquitoes, flies, bees, and numerous unknown insects in the community.

“Right now, we are struggling to do certain things because the mosquitoes, flies and bees are coming down. Bees and wasps are taking over the community. A whole lot of people have been stung since the hurricane. I see some insects now that I never see before. I am hearing some mosquitoes I have never heard before,” said Williams.

Farmlands in Accompong which were destroyed during the Category 5 Hurricane Melissa.

Banana was among the crops in Accompong, St Elizabeth, destroyed by heavy winds and rain associated with Hurricane Melissa which hit Jamaica at Category 5 strength.

One of the houses that were destroyed in Accompong Town, St Elizabeth, during Hurricane Melissa is seen amid downed banana and other trees. Many trees were also fully uprooted. (Photos: Gavin Jones)