News

Volunteers remove metres-high seaweed that washed ashore at the Little Ochie Seafood Restaurant in Alligator Pond during the passage of Hurricane Melissa.
December 9, 2025

Earth Today | Spare a thought for Melissa’s ‘silent’ victims

THE ENVIRONMENTAL Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ) has urged attention for the ‘silent victims’ of the devastating Category 5 hurricane, Melissa, which battered Jamaica last month, leaving in its wake a…
A man looks at damage caused by Hurricane Melissa in St Ann’s Bay.
December 9, 2025

Earth Today | Climate connection made

THE CLIMATE Studies Group Mona, together with World Weather Attribution, has done a rapid assessment that reveals a clear link between Hurricane Melissa and changes to the climate associated with the…
Actor Tyrese Gibson (left) dances with the Iberostar team, which included entertainment manager at JOIA Rose Hall by Iberostar, Deivy Noel (right), and the entertainment dance group in the background.
December 9, 2025 by Janet Silvera

Iberostar reopens in high spirits, welcomes Tyrese Gibson on relief mission

WESTERN BUREAU: Two weeks after Hurricane Melissa battered Jamaica’s tourism belt, the Iberostar Rose Hall complex in Montego Bay, St James, roared back to life on Monday, welcoming its first new…
AT TOP: Pastor Alexander Wurm and his 22-year-old daughter Serena.
December 9, 2025 by Janet Silvera

‘He was a hero!’

WESTERN BUREAU: The Caribbean relief community is hailing the Cayman Islands-based missionary Alexander Wurm as a true hero, a man whose final flight embodied selfless love and service to Jamaica.
Nicola McCarthy (third right), grade-six teacher, with her students back in school at the Mount Fletcher Primary in Mavis Bank, St Andrew, after Hurricane Melissa.
December 9, 2025 by Karen Madden

Residents rally to keep children in school despite commuting issues

When Hurricane Melissa tore through Jamaica with Category 5 strength, raging floodwaters swept away several bridges, including one at Hagley Gap, on the border of St Andrew and St Thomas, and another…
MSC Divina docked at nearby Reynolds Pier.
December 9, 2025 by Carl Gilchrist

Ocho Rios pier reopens, offering relief for businesses

Under heavy clouds on Tuesday, the Zuiderdam cruise ship became the first vessel in more than a year to dock at the Ocho Rios pier after extensive repairs. The facility had been closed since suffering…
Floyd Green, minister of agriculture, fisheries and mining, addresses the Parliament on the state of the agriculture sector on Tuesday.
December 9, 2025 by Edmond Campbell

$30b bite

Damage to Jamaica’s agriculture and fisheries sector from Hurricane Melissa is estimated at nearly $30 billion. The Category Five storm, whose local death toll officials placed at 45 on Tuesday, tore…
Lucea’s Mayor Sheridan Samuels (left) expressing his gratitude to Portmore’s Mayor Leon Thomas for the supplies he brought the people of Hanover.
December 9, 2025 by Adrian Frater

Portmore mayor delivers relief in hurricane-battered Hanover

WESTERN BUREAU: Portmore Mayor Leon Thomas became an instant hero to scores of residents in Haughton Court and surrounding communities in western Hanover on Monday when he arrived with a truckload of…
Steve Mahon, the caretaker at the Sir Alexander Bustamante Monument in Blenheim, Hanover
December 9, 2025

Blenheim battered but Busta’s monument escapes Melissa’s wrath

WESTERN BUREAU: Amid the widespread destruction left behind in Hanover, one remarkable symbol of resilience remains: the monument to Jamaica’s first prime minister and National Hero, Sir Alexander…