When Hurricane Melissa slammed into Montego Bay, the wind pressure was so strong Karen Shields thought her sturdy hillside home might lift off its foundation.  

“It was the most powerful hurricane I’ve experienced,” said Shields, director of operations and Jamaican liaison for the JAHJAH Foundation. “It felt like a tornado for three or four hours… it was really terrible and very frightening,” she said.

Shields has lived through major storms before, including Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 and Beryl last year, but said nothing prepared her for this one. “The wind was howling and rattling. It felt like someone was shaking the building and windows, and doors. You just saw things blowing away, neighbors’ awnings lifting up, iron gates in the road, solar panels gone,” she said.

When she ventured out the next morning, the destruction was overwhelming. “There was debris everywhere; all you see now are blue roofs, made of tarpaulins. People were just walking around looking lost, shellshocked,” she said. “A lot of trauma that will stay with people for a long time.”  

Melissa made landfall near Montego Bay as a Category 5 storm, bringing sustained winds of around 185 miles per hour and torrential rain that flooded rivers and low-lying communities. At least 43 people are reported to have been killed by the storm in Jamaica, and more than 83 people were reported to have died during the storm in total. Jamaican officials said about 120,000 structures were damaged by Hurricane Melissa, impacting an estimated 90,000 families in the western part of the island.

At least four people were killed in the working-class neighborhoods of Catherine Hall and West Green, where Shields’ parents live. “My parents’ house flooded out,” she said. “A friend of ours was cut by flying metal and bled out.”

She believes the timing of the storm prevented a higher death toll. “If it had hit at night, more people would’ve died,” she said. “When the river overflowed, you couldn’t see what was happening outside. It would’ve been impossible to rescue anyone in the dark.”  

JAHJAH Mobilizes

The JAHJAH Foundation, short for Jamaicans Abroad Helping Jamaicans at Home, was founded in 2007 by Dr. Trevor Dixon. Based in the United States, it partners with medical professionals across Jamaica to strengthen hospitals and clinics, provide training and equipment, and improve emergency care. The group focuses on health access, education, and volunteer medical missions, often connecting Jamaica’s diaspora with communities in need on the island.  

As forecasts showed the storm approaching, the foundation began preparing a response. “Even before it arrived, we started to put together a coordination plan,” Shields said. “We’d done relief efforts for Beryl, so we knew we had to mobilize right away.”  

When power and internet briefly returned after the storm, she reached out to partners and shipping contacts. “We didn’t have to ask. They came on board right away,” she said. “Lots of people reached out to help, and it grew from there.”  

Among those who answered the call was Luis David Rodriguez, a program manager with Direct Relief, who traveled to Jamaica shortly after the storm to assess damage and help direct the organization’s support. “We took a charter jet from Miami direct to Kingston, with a Cuban pilot who had to get a permit to fly over Cuba,” Rodriguez said, explaining how they got there as quickly as possible.

Rodriguez said he first connected with the JAHJAH Foundation through one of Direct Relief’s preexisting partners for Caribbean disaster response. “They put me in touch with [Foundation CEO Founder] Dr. Trevor Dixon, who lives in New York, and with Karen,” he said. “Even with connectivity issues, we were able to stay in touch on WhatsApp.”  

Rodriguez described Montego Bay as a city still reeling from the combination of storm surge and inland flooding. “You see some destruction, but the main damage was caused by flooding,” Rodriguez said. “The main river that runs through the city overflowed when it met the storm surge, and that pushed water into the surrounding communities, causing a lot of damage.”  

“Black River looks like a tornado went through the whole area,” he added. “Karen took us to Catherine Hall, where she’s from. Those people lost everything in their houses unless they had a second floor. People took out everything, mattresses, furniture, all covered in mud.”  

Working with the JAHJAH Foundation, Rodriguez and his team, which included recording artist PJ Sin Suela, who is also a physician, began basic medical assessments in affected communities, including taking residents’ blood pressure. About one in four Jamaicans is estimated to have hypertension, according to the European Heart Journal. In a 2021 Oxford University-published study of 2,550 Jamaican adults, however, 41.4% of participants were found to be hypertensive

“Clinics have been destroyed, and many healthcare providers are taking care of their own families,” Rodriguez said. “They haven’t received the medical supplies they need.”  

Response Continues, Amid Trauma

Rodriguez said the western part of the island faces long-term challenges, but noted one advantage for the national recovery effort. “The affected areas are up there with Maria and Dorian in the Bahamas,” he said. “The one silver lining, if you can call it that, is that the eastern part of Jamaica looks like nothing happened. At least people have an area to go to for potable water, electricity, and support from Kingston.”

He praised the JAHJAH Foundation’s leadership and local presence. “Meeting Karen and her husband, they have a good grasp on what their community needs, and that’s very important in these kinds of emergencies,” Rodriguez said. “They’re bringing doctors to offer healthcare services. They know the community and exactly where to take us. JAHJAH Foundation is very well connected in the area and responsive, which helps make everything more efficient.”  

While the foundation focuses on getting food, medicine, and mobile medical teams into hard-hit communities, Shields said she’s also thinking about the mental toll of what comes next. “Since the hurricane, I hear the wind, and it bothers me,” she said. “I couldn’t sleep for more than an hour or two. When you wake up, everything runs through your mind.”  

She said the road to recovery will be long. “It’s not just food and shelter,” Shields said. “Everything has been taken away. Health is a big part of recovery, and we’ll keep doing our part to help Jamaica get there.”  

Direct Relief provided JAHJAH Foundation $50,000 to support Hurricane Melissa emergency response efforts.