What started out as a tropical storm turned into a Category 4 system within 24 hours, then a Cat 5. It aimed for Jamaica and was ruthless: Roofs vanished, trees snapped like matchsticks, and storm surges swallowed coastal towns. Rivers burst their banks. Entire neighborhoods disappeared under water.

It’s impossible to get a full damage assessment at this early stage, but already more than 20,000 people are displaced and in shelters—they have lost their homes, all their belongings, as well as their businesses and farms. Entire communities are cut off as roads collapsed, left with no food, no water, no shelter—and fuel is limited.

Some have begun to receive help through World Central Kitchen and other established nonprofit organizations, as well as aid delivered via helicopter from assisting nations, including the US, Venezuela, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.

Several parishes won’t have electricity until at least late November, if that, and Starlink has helped a handful quickly connect with loved ones. But by and large, there is no communication. All this while Jamaica’s capital, Kingston, was thankfully largely spared.

But as we wipe our tears, pray for Jamaica and donate to relief efforts, let’s also be clear about what created this storm.

The ocean that fed Hurricane Melissa was unnaturally hot—close to 31 degrees Celsius, about two degrees higher than the long-term Caribbean average. Heat like that is rocket fuel for hurricanes. The physics are simple: warm water evaporates faster, air holds more moisture, and the hurricane grows heavier and angrier with every mile.

That heat is no surprise. For half a century, oil and gas companies have known exactly what burning their products does to the atmosphere. Their own scientists charted the rise in global temperature, warned of the greenhouse effect, and even predicted the two-degree increase we’re now brushing against. They published the research, buried the memos, and kept going.

Governments kept subsidizing them. New oil fields were approved in the Atlantic and Africa even after the International Energy Agency said we couldn’t open a single new one if we wanted a livable planet. The Caribbean, which emits less than one percent of global carbon emissions, pays the most for those decisions—through lives lost, lives upended, and countries destroyed. The most vulnerable people who also happen to be people of color.

Jamaica will rebuild again, sure. It always does. But rebuilding while the engines of the crisis keep running is like bailing water while someone widens the hole in the boat.

My Jamaica Connection

Jamaica is where I started my career in travel journalism. As a new writer, I drove around the island—weeklong and monthlong road trips—reporting from local guesthouses and small communities. It’s always been the people who made the difference.

That’s why watching the aftermath hits different. Seeing St. Elizabeth Parish (Treasure Beach, a community-based tourism hub), Black River, St. James Parish, and parts of Westmoreland—including my former home base, Negril, plus Whitehouse and Bluefields—get destroyed hurt deeply. I’ve cried watching it all from a distance, feel helpless. I know folks there. I’ve walked those streets, eaten at those tables, made friends. (Ironically I also had a major feature story coming out this week on a major news platform; of course we’ve hit pause on it, and if I get paid in the meantime I’ll be donating my fee.)

I’ve also lived through two Category 5 hurricanes before—Maria and Irma—while living in the Dominican Republic. By the grace of God we were largely spared. I’ve spent 15 years reporting on sustainable tourism in the Caribbean. Even so, the destruction in Jamaica this week, and the ripple effects of flooding and destruction in Haiti and the DR from a single storm, are staggering. But I shouldn’t be shocked, and neither should you. We should be very, very angry.

Not Just Another Storm

Black River, Jamaica—the storm’s “ground zero”—saw up to 90% of structures damaged. St. Elizabeth Parish is Jamaica’s breadbasket. Small farms that feed communities, not tourists. Those farms are underwater. The public hospital lost its roof and had to evacuate 75 patients in the middle of the hurricane. Residents have lost their lives, many of them just sitting beside the wreckage that was once their family home as they wait for aid.

In Haiti, 23 people died. Ten were children. One father, Steven Guadard, told reporters: “I had four children at home: a 1-month-old baby, a 7-year-old, an 8-year-old and another who was about to turn 4.” Gone in one moment when the river burst.

Cuba evacuated more than 735,000 people. Communities remain without electricity, internet, or phone service. Banana, cassava, and coffee plantations destroyed.

When these storms hit, it’s not only infrastructure that’s lost. People lose cultural heritage sites, traditional ecological knowledge, oral histories. In historic Accompong Town in Jamaica, where I once joined Maroon Day celebrations—90% of homes are gone. The museum is decimated. The sacred landscape stripped bare.

How Jamaica Had to Bet Against Itself

Jamaica will receive a record-breaking $24 billion JMD (about US $150 million) payout following Hurricane Melissa, from a catastrophe bond structured by Aon and arranged by the World Bank. It’s the first in the Caribbean region and the first island in the world to independently sponsor this type of bond. The funds are expected to be disbursed within 14 days.

It’s being celebrated as a success story. But think about what it actually means: Jamaica had to bet on its own destruction to get protection from a crisis it didn’t cause.

The Caribbean emits less than 1% of global carbon but is among the most climate-vulnerable places on Earth. Yet it pays premiums to insurance markets for disasters created by wealthy industrialized nations.

And that $73 million payout? Hurricane Beryl caused nearly $1 billion in damage to Jamaica in 2024, just a year ago. Beryl missed the payout criteria, so Jamaica got nothing. So even when the insurance “works,” it’s inadequate.

This is what passes for “resilience” in 2025—private markets profit while fossil fuel companies face zero accountability. It’s important for us to understand this.

Whose Recovery?

Six weeks. That’s how long Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism says the tourism industry will take to reopen. The intentional deadline: December 15. Recovery cannot be left to chance, he said.

They’ve activated a Hurricane Melissa Recovery Task Force led by both government and private sector executives—the same team that handled pandemic recovery. The priorities: “rapid assessments, product rehabilitation, and service readiness across resorts, attractions, airports, and cruise ports.”

Notice the language: “Product rehabilitation.” Not community rehabilitation. Because while 72% of Jamaica is without power at this time, while people remain in shelters and rescue crews are still removing wreckage and looking for bodies, the national priority must also juggle tourism reopening.

Tourism accounts for roughly 30% of Jamaica’s GDP. The country literally cannot afford slow recovery. But what happens to the hundreds of tourism workers who’ve lost their homes in places like Savannah-La-Mar? They’ll rebuild the same fragile structures—zinc roofs and plywood walls for now—because there’s no alternative and rebuilding hurricane-resistant structures takes money and time, especially in a nation still bearing the economic weight of colonial extraction.

Next month the slogan will likely appear: Jamaica is open. That’s economic necessity. But the mega projects that were taking place pre-storm will continue, led by private developers: the kind that’s destroying mangroves (natural storm barriers) and offshore coral reefs, making future disasters even more harmful to communities.

Examples of Local Resilience

Even amid the wreckage, some communities are proving that local leadership and innovation make a difference.

In Accompong Town, a Maroon community in the heart of Jamaica’s Cockpit Country, Ambassador Anu Tafari Zion shared that their two Atmospheric Water Generators (AWG)—the only hurricane-proof system of its kind in the Caribbean—survived Hurricane Melissa intact.

Accompong’s units are powered by a solar system that was safely stored in reinforced containers before the storm—no fossil fuels, no grid dependency. The two containers of over 25K pounds each were actually lifted and shifted by Melissa but a last-minute added fence protected them from going over the hill, which would have crushed homes below.

For context: AWGs extract moisture directly from the air and convert it into clean drinking water—an off-grid solution that can be powered by solar energy and sustain communities when conventional systems collapse.

Now, the team plans to deliver clean drinking water to more than 10,000 people across Cockpit Country who were directly impacted, and to extend help to other parishes facing shortages. It’s an incredible example of Indigenous, community-minded preparedness.

Down on the south coast, Keith Wedderburn of Bluefields Organic Farm—which I toured pre-pandemic while it was still new, so I could include it in Rough Guide to Jamaica back in 2018—shared another glimpse of what resilience looks like on the ground.

“Before Hurricane Melissa made landfall, we took no chances—securing fuel, chainsaws, and key supplies in preparation for what we knew could be a long road ahead.
Now, in the wake of the storm’s devastation, those preparations are proving vital. With roads blocked, homes destroyed, and power still out in many areas, Bluefields Organic Farm has once again become a hub of action and hope.
Our team is using what we have—fuel, tools, and sheer determination—to help clear paths, support neighbours, and begin the process of rebuilding together.
We’re not waiting on help… we’re helping ourselves and others until more assistance arrives.”

These are the stories we should be amplifying.

Bluefields Organic Farm practices regenerative agriculture—restoring ecosystems and growing food with nature. This is real resilience: community knowledge, local systems, food sovereignty, and economic models that prioritize wellbeing over extraction. It already exists. It just needs support.

What Must be Said Out Loud

As Jamaican-British climate activist Mikaela Loach said this week, we must stop calling these recurring, megastorm events “natural disasters.” They’re not natural. They’re the direct outcome of a superheated planet. Melissa went from 70 mph to 140 mph in 24 hours because Caribbean ocean temperatures are hotter than average—driven by global heating and decades of political and corporate negligence.

And the corporations responsible face zero consequences while Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic bury their dead and rebuild with inadequate resources.

If we work in tourism, media, policy, finance—anything that touches the Caribbean—we have a responsibility to tell these stories honestly. To name the systems that cause these disasters. To stop celebrating band-aid solutions. To center Caribbean voices and support community-driven resilience.

Travel journalists must cover more than resort reopenings. Travel stories need to incorporate more than leisure.

So I’ve been urging everyone to make time to listen to the everyday Jamaicans who’ve been harmed and are currently sharing their stories—the farmers, the fishers, the teachers, the Maroon elders. Their voices document what a fossil-fuel-fueled climate disaster really looks like on the ground.

Their stories should make you sad, then outraged—a healthy emotion that will keep us holding accountable those who’ve driven this climate crisis.

Sources to Follow

Here are recommended local accounts that are documenting the human face of this disaster.

• TVJnews
• CVM News
• Jamaica Information Service
• Treasure Beach
• Photographer Adrian McDonald
• Chief Richard Currie, Accompong Town

And if you’re planning to visit Jamaica in the coming months when it reopens to tourism—GO. But go consciously. Choose locally-owned stays. Hire local guides. Understand what recovery really looks like for those who live there. When the government declares Jamaica is open, understand it’s economic necessity speaking, not full recovery. Bring supplies in an extra suitcase (check with your airline and NGOs on the ground), be patient, and spend time in communities where possible, without hindering ongoing local aid.

Ways to Help

1. Support trusted organizations already on the ground, including those I trust and have visited in Accompong Town, Bluefields. This list will be periodically updated.

• Food for the Poor Jamaica
• World Central Kitchen in Jamaica 
• Global Empowerment Mission 
• Accompong Town & Cockpit Country 
• A Google Doc compiling Fundraising Efforts for Treasure Beach
• Bluefields Organic Farm

2. Keep attention on recovery.

The headlines may fade, but we must keep sharing updates. Support small Jamaican businesses and local initiatives, and it’s better to purchase local supplies in Jamaica if you are able to do so.

3. Push for systemic change.

If you have connections in policy, finance, or tourism, use them. Push for climate finance, debt relief, and tourism models that build resilience instead of vulnerability.

4. Educate yourself.

Learn the science, the politics, and the human impact of the climate crisis. It’s all connected.

5. Subscribe to Tourism Lens Media

I cover stories mainstream travel media often won’t. Share this post or my YouTube channel where I also host a monthly podcast called “Places, People & Power.”

If you’re an NGO in the Caribbean and want to collaborate with me as an independent on-the-ground storyteller, please reach out.

The “land of wood and wata” will recover, but it shouldn’t have to keep rising from disasters it didn’t create. If you’re in affected areas and want to share your experience or have a lead for a story, my inbox is open.

One Love.