TAMPA, Fla. — Florida nonprofits are still working to get aid to Jamaica just more than a week after Hurricane Melissa devastated the island.  

“We’ve been going out, and we see the same thing everywhere,” said James Judge, a team leader with Project DYNAMO. “We’re the first people they’ve seen that have been with relief supplies. There’s starving people. Most of the structures don’t have roofs.”

What You Need To Know

 Florida-based nonprofits Project DYNAMO and Grey Bull Rescue have stepped up to help in Jamaica following Hurricane Melissa

 Both groups have flown stranded Americans back to the U.S. and are working to provide humanitarian aid

 A team leader with Project DYNAMO says the situation on the ground is dire, with people dealing with lack of food, medication, and extensive damage

Read previous coverage here

Judge, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, returned from Jamaica early Wednesday morning. He shared video with Spectrum News that he captured of members trekking through rural areas hit hard by the storm, offering medical help and supplies. 

“It’s definitely a life or death situation, and I think it’s increasing,” Judge said.

According to Judge, Project DYNAMO started reconnaissance flights Wednesday to expand their efforts.

“They’re actually going over and mapping everything and looking at where we can establish main supply routes, routes that need to be cleared, how our teams can get into those areas that are impacted, and also assisting with search and rescue operations,” he said. 

Judge credited partner organizations, like Everything Lifesaving Foundation, Somebody Cares Tampa Bay, Savage Freedoms Relief Operations, and more for their roles in the mission.

Like DYNAMO, Grey Bull Rescue is another Florida-based nonprofit made up of military veterans. Its founder, Bryan Stern, said during a virtual news conference that his team staged in Aruba and other areas nearby so they could be on the ground as soon as possible after the storm.

“On that team, we have advanced medics, we have advanced communications, we have Starlinks with us, we have radios with us,” said Stern. “We have everything we need to be completely and totally self-contained.”

Stern said Grey Bull has flown more than 300 stranded Americans back to the U.S. Ricky Taylor is one of them. He said the airport shut down just two hours before his scheduled flight out of Jamaica.

“So, now it’s kind of like a scramble to rebook a flight. We had a flight booked for Monday, then that got canceled. We had a rescheduled flight for Wednesday that got canceled,” Taylor said.

He registered to request help from the rescue, which he said definitely lived up to its name.

“All of the flights were canceled. We had no transportation from Montego Bay to anywhere, and if it wasn’t for Grey Bull, I mean, we’d probably be still there today, trying to figure out how to navigate and get home,” Taylor said.

Judge said Project DYNAMO has also helped bring home more than two dozen Americans. Both he and Stern said they plan to return to Jamaica to continue with humanitarian efforts. Both groups rely on donations to pay for their missions. Anyone who wants to donate can visit the Project DYNAMO and Grey Bull Rescue web sites.