My country has been 'ripped apart,' Jamaican farm worker says as people in Niagara call out for help

Rohan Thompson was keeping a close eye on Melissa from St. Catharines, Ont., where he works as a temporary farm worker, as the Category 5 hurricane approached his homeland earlier this week.

The seasonal farm worker from Jamaica’s Clarendon parish has been in Canada since April, and is scheduled to return home late November or early December.

Thompson could not find the words to describe how he felt after Melissa, one of the most powerful hurricanes to strike the Caribbean, ravaged Jamaica on Tuesday. 

“I never get a good sleep [that] night because [of] that devastation,” Thompson told CBC News.

“My girlfriend is from St. Elizabeth, and I tried to contact her. Nothing, nothing … so I don't get much sleep.” 

Melissa made landfall just before 12 p.m. E.T. Tuesday, with 297 km/h winds, near New Hope in St. Elizabeth — considered Jamaica’s breadbasket, because it’s where most of the island’s agricultural production takes place.

The hurricane left up to 90 per cent of all structures in Black River, also in St. Elizabeth, without roofs as it snapped power lines and toppled concrete structures. One of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes to make landfall, Melissa has been blamed for at least 19 deaths in Jamaica, and 31 in Haiti.

Between deep sighs, Thompson shared how broken he was after seeing videos and photos of the devastation.

“Oh, my God, I don’t know what to say. It's really heartbreaking to see my country, my parish, just ripped apart,” he said.

“I’m just worried about my girlfriend and her daughter because I don’t know if they’re still alive. If I just could hear from them, my mind and my thoughts would be more contented.”

Thompson is one of many Jamaican seasonal workers in the Niagara region, on whom farms and wineries rely to help during harvest season. Hurricane Melissa has left them concerned.

Dale Merrill, a resident from Niagara-on-the-Lake who also has a home in Montego Bay — a city in western Jamaica — fought back tears as he talked about the anguish the storm has caused Jamaican families.

“They come here to help us. We need to help them,” Merrill said.

Merrill co-owns a construction company on the island, called E-Z Block Manufacturing Jamaica, that installs concrete walls made to resist earthquakes and hurricanes.