CLARKS TOWN, Trelawny — When Hurricane Melissa slammed into Jamaica as a Category 5 system on October 28, residents of this quiet Trelawny town found themselves fighting to save not only their homes, but their chickens.

In Bottom Town, Leford Brodie says he risked his life to rescue the few birds that survived the storm.

“Di whole a dem blow weh,” he told the Jamaica Observer. “Mi haffi run go inna di coop and catch what mi can catch up and fling dem deh so wid some palette.”

Brodie’s makeshift coop now sits beneath his house, hastily built from scrap boards. He estimates he lost about 45 chickens, along with several young ones.

His neighbour, Cynthia Forbes, faced a different kind of scramble, moving her household items, including her mattress and dresser, into her chicken coop to protect them from the rain.

“I lose everything,” she said softly. “Bed, dresser, even shop counter. Everything from the house inna the coop. I jus’ a try save what I can before more rain come.”

Across Bottom Town and adjoining Mack Hill, the story was the same: torn-off roofs, uprooted trees, and frantic searches for shelter.

Annette Redwood said most residents lost their roofs entirely.

“It was very bad,” she explained. “When the houses start fall apart, people were running all over during that time to get shelter. My brother run from one house to the next… first one roof gone, then the next, then the next.”

At the time the Observer visited the community, Redwood said they had yet to receive outside help.

“Nobody at all,” she said. “We still need help, anything you can do.”

Rashema Edwards and her aunt Darna Steele, who share a yard with several relatives, lost large sections of their roofs when a tree branch crashed through the boards.

“This storm, from mi born till now, a di first mi experience a Category 5. I had to come out in the storm to draw one sandbag on the housetop to keep down the zinc,” Edwards related.

When she tried to remove the same tree limb days later, she found it wedged tightly between sheets of zinc, the only thing stopping the rest of the roof from collapsing.

Her aunt added, “I lose the verandah zinc and one room zinc. A pick we have to pick up back because we have nowhere to sleep. Right now, Government alone can’t do this, enuh.”

“Melissa disfigure Jamaica,” Edwards said, looking up towards the remains of homes above her house on Mack Hill. “Everything up deh flat.”

For anyone wishing to help, donations may be sent to Rashema Edwards, NCB Falmouth Branch #444273135, or to Janet Lindo (wife of Leford Brodie), Scotiabank Falmouth Branch #428000.

Pastor Henry, from a local church in Bottom Town, said the community spirit remains strong despite the losses.

“Nearly every house touch some kind of damage,” he said. “Many have lost their roofs, some their homes, but the people [are] pulling together. I lost lots of shingles myself but the sun is shining — and that is a promise of a better day.”

Even the town’s historical centrepiece, St Michael’s Anglican Church, built about 1843, sustained roof damage. Once the heart of this 3,000-strong community, it now stands as a symbol of both loss and endurance.

The remains of Cynthia Forbes’ board house and shop in Clarks Town, Trelawny. After Hurricane Melissa ripped off her roof, Forbes moved her household items, including her mattress and dresser, into her chicken coop to keep them dry.

Clarks Town resident Leford Brodie shows where a fallen tree, now cut up, damaged his house and the makeshift chicken coop he built from wooden pallets under his cellar to protect the few birds that survived the storm.

Alive and dead chickens all in one coop as resident Cynthia Forbes said about 15 of her birds died in the storm as she tried to salvage what little she could.

The historic St Michael’s Anglican Church, built around 1843, sustained roof damage during Hurricane Melissa. The church stands at the centre of Clarks Town and remains a symbol of faith and endurance for the 3,000 residents who call the community home.