A year after Melissa, little has changed in St Elizabeth – Sophia Brown

On her previous visit to Jamaica last March, Sophia Brown saw firsthand the destruction caused by Hurricane Melissa, especially in her home parish of St Elizabeth. Not much changed when the singer returned in mid-October. St Elizabeth was hardest hit by the Category 5 hurricane, which made landfall on October 28, 2025. It also resulted in extensive damage to neighbouring parishes of Westmoreland, Hanover, St James and Trelawmy. “People still need help, even after a year. When you go into Black River it still looks like a ghost town, the buildings are down and not much businesses open,” Brown told Observer Online. “It needs to be rebuilt.” Brown, who lives in the United States, was born in Kingston but raised in the village of Carisbrook, northwest St Elizabeth. Five months after Melissa struck, she went to her hometown and distributed care packages to people struggling in the aftermath of the hurricane. Through her Angel Of The Hearts Foundation, Brown presented 85 packages containing food, and essential items. The organisation also donated packages to the Marie Atkins Shelter in Kingston. Hurricane Melissa was the first Category 5 system to hit Jamaica since Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. Packing 185 mile per hour winds, it destroyed infrastructure, homes, schools and resulted in the deaths of 45 people. Based on Brown’s observations, it was not all gloom in St Elizabeth. Commerce in the Middle Quarters region, famous for its shrimp and bammy, was getting back to normal. “With time things should come back to what it used to be. In time,” she said. - Howard Campbell