‘We Couldn’t Just Sit and Wait’: Westmoreland residents clear roads after Hurricane Melissa 

As Jamaica prepares to build back from Hurricane Melissa, residents from Westmoreland were seen taking matters into their own hands, clearing blocked roads three days after the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

Motorists had to wait for long hours as they made their way home after purchasing fuel. Considering this Detours were created alongside the New Hope main road, where traffic was reduced to single lane due to the fallen light poles and scattered debris.

A resident from that community named Robert Clarke said, “We couldn’t just sit and wait. The Road belongs to all of we. So, we clear it.”  

Darliston, which was one of the first hit communities from Melissa’s full force is still flooded with water with residents trying to salvage their furniture.

“We just start to fix back what we can” said Sandra, a mother of three “The wind take the roof, but not our spirit.”

A visit from the opposition leader

Opposition leader Mark Golding also visited the community of Westmoreland to assess the damage and after meeting the residents there, and listening to their concerns, Golding emphasized that the level of devastation that has occurred across Westmoreland is heartbreaking.

He stressed on the importance of relief efforts to reach every community and cited his support in laying out the relief efforts to ensure Jamaicans get help that they need. Golding’s team also visited several other hard-hit communities including Darliston and Whitehouse in East Westmoreland where Hurricane first made landfall.

Westmoreland’s recovery like much of Jamaica will take time, roofs need to be replaced, roads need to be clear, families to resettle. But Jamaicans will is to settle things down and they have hit the ground with determination to rebuild their Jamaica.

There is no drama left now, just people’s voices, a quiet rhythm of action and willpower, sweeping, hammering, lifting and clearing.