As heavy floodwaters surged across southwestern Jamaica and 185 mph winds tore through coastal towns Tuesday, Maryland Del. Jheanelle Wilkins kept her phone close, refreshing messages with family members riding out the storm.
“The catastrophic storm and the fact that this is the worst in the nation’s history is just extremely concerning,” Wilkins, a Kingston-born Democrat who represents Montgomery County, told The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday. “I feel very worried for the entire island and also for my family.”
Hurricane Melissa made landfall on Jamaica’s southwestern coast as a Category 5 storm — one of the most powerful in Atlantic history. The storm flattened homes, uprooted trees and left hundreds of thousands without power, according to media reports. It is now moving toward Cuba. Its slow movement has brought hours of torrential rain and flash flooding, with officials warning that recovery will take weeks.
For Jamaicans in Maryland, the destruction has felt both distant and deeply personal. The state is home to more than 82,000 Caribbeans — one of the largest Caribbean populations in the mid-Atlantic, according to the latest reports from the Migration Policy Institute.
“It’s scary, and for me as a legislator, at the same time, we have so much going on in the community here with the shutdown, our furloughed workers,” Wilkins said. “Both at home and also abroad, several crises are going on, and trying to make sure that everyone is taken care of.”
Organizing from afar
As Wilkins checked in with her father and siblings in Kingston and Montego Bay, others in Maryland’s Jamaican community were busy mobilizing.
BJ Dawkins, a leader in the Maryland Black Chamber of Commerce and a community advocate in Montgomery County, said she spent the night on WhatsApp with friends and family in Jamaica, including her 86-year-old mother in Montego Bay — many of whom were struggling with intermittent power and spotty internet connections.
On Monday night, Dawkins helped coordinate a Zoom meeting hosted by Jamaica’s ambassador to the United States, Antony Anderson. More than 500 people, including Wilkins and Howard University professor Goulda Downer, logged on to hear updates, identify immediate needs and plan relief efforts.
Downer, who has trained with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and worked with Jamaica’s disaster preparedness agency, said the storm highlights the region’s growing vulnerability to climate change.
“Latin America and the Caribbean region is considered the second most disaster-prone area in the world … one in six natural disasters occur in the Caribbean — that’s about 16 percent,” she said, adding that the region’s ability to withstand storms has decreased significantly since she was a child living in Jamaica as the nature of the storms themselves have changed due to climate change.
Downer emphasized that disaster response is about more than rebuilding roads and houses — it’s about long-term planning, communication and mental health.
She added that diaspora communities play a crucial role in relief and recovery. “When it comes to boots on the ground, that’s what we do. We get together. It doesn’t matter what our political affiliation is. The bottom line is Jamaica is Jamaica. That’s home,” she said.
Wilkins said she hopes the United States provides robust support as Jamaica begins rebuilding.
“Recent actions around the international support have not been strong in recent months,” she said. “But I am hopeful, and I will be urging that help from the United States …. and the many Jamaicans living here in the United States, I know, will want to see that support take place.”
Have a news tip? Contact Mennatalla Ibrahim at mibrahim@baltsun.com.
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