Wilmington couple worry about loved ones in Jamaica during Hurricane Melissa

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Hurricane Melissa made landfall over the island nation of Jamaica on Tuesday as a powerful Category 5.

Here in the Cape Fear, a couple originally from Jamaica is worried about their family and friends.

Nigel Wood and his wife Nordia Rose-Wood have seen many photos and videos of Melissa hitting the island, sent by family and friends as the storm progresses north across Jamaica.

“It’s been heartbroken, you know,” Nigel said. “The loss of power, so you know, getting food, stuff like that, keeping stuff cold. That’s going to be a real hard challenge.”

Owners of the Jam Rock Jamaican Food Truck in Wilmington, the couple immigrated to the US years ago, Nigel in 2001 and Nordia in 2018.

But now, they are left worried about keeping in touch with their loved ones.

“We lost all connections from last night, and this hurricane is bigger than the one that we had in previous years, which was Gilbert in 1988,” Nordia said. “Yes, and that was a very big, so this one being bigger, yeah, it’s very worrying for us.”

However, sometimes they can get in touch with family, such as Nigel’s brother Lawrence, who lives in St. Catherine Parish, near the capital of Kingston.

“And the winds really started picking up about 2:30 this morning so you know we have had tree damage, we have trees that have been blown down, water coming in the back of the yard, has blown some trees in the backyard as well,” Lawrence said.

The Woods know the island is facing an extensive and difficult recovery.

“And people losing their houses, and so that’s going to be very hard,” Nordia said.

“You know, it’s gonna be a lot, the recovery is going to be long. You know, the ports are going to be down, the airports, so trying to get assistance to them is going to be really hard.”

But despite that, they are grateful for all of the support they’ve already received from friends here in the Cape Fear.

“We love seeing the love and that’s, that’s very important you know, just the love that people just really to come together to help, you know, to help what they can, you know, so it’s just the love man.”

Nigel added that on Tuesday, several nearby food businesses talked with him about holding a fundraiser in support of Jamaica within the next week.

We’ll be sure to share those details as soon as they become available.