Ottawa·NewSome Jamaicans living in Ottawa are concerned for elderly family and cousins stuck trying to leave the island.Melissa is the strongest hurricane in recent history expected to directly hit JamaicaBianca McKeown · CBC News · Posted: Oct 27, 2025 8:54 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 minute agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesA man boards up a window, in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Melissa, in Port Royal, Jamaica, October 26, 2025. REUTERS/Octavio Jones (Octavio Jones/Reuters)Simone Smart remembers what it’s like to live through a hurricane. “The road becomes the river or the seas, the beach basically,” she said. “The crocodiles become part of everyday life for a moment … We just weren’t able to move. You’re just stuck. Wherever you are, you’re literally stuck.”Smart, who’s on the board of the Jamaica Ottawa Community Association, recalled Hurricane Gilbert, a Category 3 storm that hit Jamaica in 1988, as devastating.She can’t even begin to imagine the destruction that a Category 5 storm, like Hurricane Melissa, could have on Jamaicans when it arrives. Hurricane Melissa is expected to have sustained winds exceeding 250 km/h. It’s the strongest hurricane in recent history to directly hit Jamaica, with the storm forecasted to make landfall on the island on Tuesday.”Jamaica really hasn’t experienced a hurricane like this”Kamoi McWhinney, who lives in Ottawa, is concerned for her family back home. She says they haven’t experienced a hurricane of this magnitude, and she worries for her 83-year-old grandad who lives by himself in Mandeville. “Up until literally maybe like 30 minutes ago when the electricity went out there, I was consistently calling and talking and walking through, ‘OK, they filled up barrels of water. OK, grandad, do you have your stuff charged? Do you know where you’re going?’” she said on Monday afternoon.Kamoi McWhinney with her grandfather. (Photo provided by Kamoi McWhinney)McWhinney plans to travel to Jamaica next week to bring supplies, like vitamins and necessities, to her family.Also concerned for family back home is RJ McEwan, pastor of the REACH Centre in Ottawa. He says his cousin, who lives in Ottawa, is currently stuck in Jamaica. “He was enjoying his trip down there, but they had shut down the airport and cancelled his flight due to the impending hurricane of Hurricane Melissa, and so he’s waiting to get back,” McEwan said. “Hopefully he could get back very shortly.”McEwan says his other relatives who live in Kingston, Jamaica have been preparing, praying and hoping for the best. Marsha Coore Lobban, the high commissioner of Jamaica to Canada, says Jamaican residents have tried to prepare as best they can, and are bracing for damage.“We are all in anxious-mode at this point,” she said Monday afternoon. “There will be significant damage to Jamaica in terms of significant flooding as well as land slippages on mountains, or hills … which will probably close off communities, create damage to homes, agricultural products and so forth.”Though McWhinney is concerned for her family back home, she says Jamaicans are known for being happy, joyful people, and many are trying to stay positive by cracking jokes while they wait for Melissa to arrive.”There’s a lot of jokes going around saying, ‘Oh, she’s taking her time. She’s a young person, she’s fixing her makeup, doing her lashes,’” she said, laughing. “To get through a lot of these things, you have to smile. You have to have some joy.” ABOUT THE AUTHORBianca McKeown is a fourth-year journalism and humanities student at Carleton University, graduating in 2025. She is also a news and digital intern at CBC Ottawa.
We are all in anxious-mode’: Jamaicans in Ottawa worry for loved ones as Hurricane Melissa approaches
