Jamaican-Montrealer awaits word from family as Hurricane Melissa hits island

Montreal’s Jamaican community is anxiously awaiting news from family as Hurricane Melissa batters the island with record winds and destruction.

The Jamaican community in Montreal is worried about loved ones back home as Hurricane Melissa is expected to cause widespread devastation.

Avril Scarlette is one of those people. She says she spent the day anxiously glued to her phone, desperately trying to reach her family in Jamaica.

“But I didn’t get through. So just again, keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best,” she said. Scarlette last received word from her family Monday, after her sister in the U.S. spoke with them.

Scarlette has a younger sister in Jamaica, along with several nieces and nephews. She says she is worried their home may not be strong enough to withstand the hurricane.

“Just by looking at it on the television, I said, ‘Oh, no.’ At one point I started to cry. ‘Oh, my island is gone,’” she said.

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the category five hurricane is expected to bring powerful winds of up to 300 km/hr along with heavy rainfall.

This is the worst storm to ever hit the island of Jamaica.

Hurricane Melissa is already blamed for seven deaths in the Caribbean, including three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.

One expert says climate change is making these types of catastrophic storms more common.

“Because the ocean is hotter each year so, the hurricane will be more and more devastating,” said Yannick Hémond, geography professor at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

Hémond says this storm will be worse than Hurricane Katrina.

In Canada, members of the Jamaican diaspora are organizing relief efforts, collecting supplies to send over.

“It could be medical supplies, wheelchairs, hygiene products, water purification tablets, anything that we have a full list that we’re prepared and are working on, starting to collect those items,” said Lisa Rutty, an elected member of the Global Jamaica Diaspora Council for Canada.

Rutty says the supplies will be sent to Jamaica once it is safe to do so.

As for Scarlette, she says for now all she can do is wait.

“I don’t know what the outcome is going to be.”

-with files from The Associated Press