As Jamaica prepares for what could be a history-making catastrophe from Hurricane Melissa, New York-born attorney Michelle Robinson is among those bracing for the impact.
“You know that disaster is going to be here,” said Robinson, who has law offices in Brooklyn and Kingston, Jamaica’s capital city. As of Sunday night, Melissa was categorized as a Category 4 storm, and forecast to strengthen into a Category 5 overnight. Robinson has been recording video of the sky from her rooftop. “Honestly, I don’t know how you really prepare for a Category 5 storm.”
Robinson has family on the island and has decided to ride out the storm. “We have a lots of flashlights, we have food, we have water,” Robinson explained. But she added: “If the light goes out, we wouldn’t be able to cook either because our stove is electric.”
Others in Jamaica have begun filling sandbags, because of the threat of flash flooding. Melissa has already claimed lives in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. “The government is going into high risk areas and telling people to evacuate. Not everyone is listening,” said Robinson.
But with the National Hurricane Center warning that Melissa is moving very slowly, Robinson worries that after the storm “if the roofs are gone, if power is out, it’s going to be really, really bad for a lot of people in Jamaica.”
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