Lead Stories

Residents scramble to get gasolene for their vehicles, generators and the like at Total gas station, Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, on October 31.
December 9, 2025 by Janet Silvera

Cash proves it’s king in aftermath of Melissa

WESTERN BUREAU: When Fernando Davis stepped out last Saturday morning, four days after Hurricane Melissa battered Jamaica, he thought recovery had begun…with money in his account, a charged phone, and…
Gregory McMichael at the S Hotel in Montego Bay, St James.
December 9, 2025 by Janet Silvera

Hotel gets ‘10-star’ praise amid hurricane

WESTERN BUREAU: When Hurricane Melissa howled through Montego Bay, St James, most of the tourism capital’s guests prayed for safety. Gregory McMichael got something more – comfort, care, and the calm…
Senator Aubin Hill (left), minister of investment, industry and commerce; Delano Seiveright, state minister in the Ministry of Industry, Investment, and Commerce, led by Gloria Henry, vice-president of the Port Authority of Jamaica, on a tour of the Monteg
December 9, 2025 by Albert Ferguson

Port Authority, BPO sector show resilience after hurricane

WESTERN BUREAU: The Port Authority of Jamaica and the Global Services Association of Jamaica (GSAJ), representing the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, have been lauded for their rapid…
News
December 9, 2025

SIA landing, parking fees suspended for Hurricane Melissa relief supplies

With limited commercial flight operations resuming on Saturday, MBJ Airports Limited (MBJ), operators of Sangster International Airport (SIA), has opted to waive all landing and parking fees for…
Mortician Dywite Spence, a worker at Doyley’s Funeral Service, takes a break at 3 a.m. on Thursday at the Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital in Westmoreland after spending the last 10 hours retrieving the bodies of hurricane victims across the paris
December 9, 2025 by Kimone Francis

‘Bodies all over the place’

In the wake of Hurricane Melissa’s devastation, the air in Westmoreland hung heavy with dust and debris as mortician Dywite Spence began a grim journey – retrieving the bodies of those the storm had…
Steve Brown, uncle of Monique Coke, who died during the passage of Hurricane Melissa when their home was ripped apart by fierce winds in Waterworks, Petersfield, Westmoreland.
December 9, 2025

A Westmoreland family’s deadly fight against the storm

A Westmoreland family’s desperate attempt to escape the stinging conditions of Hurricane Melissa ended in tragedy when the house they were fleeing from crumbled, killing 18-year-old Monique Coke. The…
Mount Hermon United Church in Westmoreland.
December 9, 2025 by Janet Silvera

Faith shaken, not broken

WESTERN BUREAU: Hurricane Melissa has shattered hundreds of Jamaica’s churches, from wooden chapels tucked in sugar-belt villages to grand cathedrals that survived slavery and emancipation. The storm…
Members of the Jamaica Defence Force hand out care packages to residents of Crane Road in St Elizabeth.
December 9, 2025 by Livern Barrett

First steps to relief

Three separate vehicles carrying food, water and other basic supplies drew long lines of residents desperate to get anything as night fell over the hurricane-ravaged town of Black River, St Elizabeth,…
Rose Holness shows the damage to her home in St James.
December 9, 2025 by Andre Williams

Mud splash

A drowning woman clutched her United States and Canada visas before being rescued by a neighbour as water levels rose to her breast in what turned out to be unprecedented volumes covering ground…