READING, Pa.- Some in Berks County are still working to reach loved ones in Jamaica and find out what kind of damage the hurricane caused.
“I’m just hopeful,” says Neisha Boothe, owner of Jamdung Jerk Hut in Reading. “That’s all I can do at this point. I’m just hopeful; I’ll just keep calling.”
Boothe says her father traveled to Jamaica last week for a funeral and hasn’t been able to get back home to Berks County yet.
She says he was there along with several family members when Hurricane Melissa first made landfall as a Category 5 storm Tuesday.
“I’m seeing pictures, videos, you know houses that are flooded all the way to the top,” says Boothe. “Hospitals are damaged. There are four hospitals right now that are super damaged. The airport in Montego Bay is damaged [and] I have family that I don’t even know when they’re going to be back.”
She says the extensive damage will have a tremendous impact especially with the island nation heading into one of its busiest seasons.
“It’s not going to be fixed in time,” says Boothe. “The roads, the hospitals, the airport, just people being displaced. How do you fix that in two months?”
A number of storm related deaths have been reported. Boothe says donations will be imperative for recovery efforts.
“I think one of the greatest things about being Jamaican is our resiliency,” says Boothe. “Our national anthem is ‘Eternal Father Bless our Land, Guide us with your Mighty Hand’ and I think that’s going to be the key to everyone in Jamaica that God continues to guide us during this time, because this is the worst Jamaica has ever seen.”
Hurricane Melissa also swept through Cuba and Haiti leaving destruction and deaths in its wake.