WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Hurricane Melissa has wreaked havoc on several Caribbean islands, as WPTV is putting a spotlight on the resilience and strength of community members with family ties to Jamaica.
WATCH BELOW: 'It was very stressful; we just had to continue to pray,' Lakeesha Hawthorne tells WPTV
The powerful Category 5 hurricane, Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday raising concerns and anxieties among those with loved ones in the region.
Experts are calling Hurricane Melissa one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes to make landfall on record, with winds peaking at an astonishing 185 mph.
For context, that's 20 miles more than Category 5 Hurricane Andrew, which devastated Florida in 1992.
Lakeesha Hawthorne, a franchise owner of Golden Krust Caribbean Restaurant in West Palm Beach and a native of Jamaica, shared her emotional journey as the storm approached.
"It was nerve-wracking. We just continued to pray; we're a very prayerful family," she recalled.
On Tuesday she told WPTV she lost contact with her family in Jamaica, who were facing the wrath of the storm as it made landfall, and she couldn't get ahold of them.
"It was very stressful; we just had to continue to pray," Hawthorne said, during those anxious hours,
It wasn't until Wednesday morning that she received the long-awaited message from her family.
"It was such a relief. Oh glory to God, everything was good. No destruction, just no light right now," she said.
Her family, residing in Kingston on the eastern side of the island, experienced mostly rain and wind damage. The impact of the storm was daunting.
"Yesterday things got pretty rough with rain and wind in Kingston city," described Hawthorne's cousin, Simone Clarke-Cooper. "I could hear the wind as if it were in the room with me. I could only imagine if this is what we are experiencing in an area that is not as hard hit as they are, I cannot imagine what 185 mph winds would look like."
WATCH BELOW: Jamaica reeling from Hurricane Melissa
Clarke-Cooper expressed the surreal feeling of witnessing the devastation in the hardest-hit areas.
"There are entire parishes, towns that have been flattened. There are buildings that are unrecognizable," she said. "There are roads that have become rivers; there are roads that are impassable, because there are downed trees."
She said the toll on the people has been heart-wrenching.
"There are people who have lost everything—everything," she said. "There are people here who have nothing but the shirts on their backs, so it's going to be really hard on them to rebuild, because there is catastrophic damage."
In the spirit of solidarity, Hawthorne's cousin's restaurant, Golden Krust, has become a drop-off location for supplies collected by the nonprofit Free Spirit Outreach, which aims to assist families impacted by Hurricane Melissa.
Any business or location that would like to help with the initiative can contact Free Spirit Outreach and they'll place large blue barrels to fill with donations.
While WPTV was at Golden Krust, the nonprofits came by for its first round of pickups.
They say the response from the community has been nothing short of incredible.
"I know what it feels like after a storm not to have anything, but getting help is one of the things that brings comfort, and that’s what we want to do," said Lincoln Lewis, president of Free Spirit Outreach and fellow Jamaican.
Lewis emphasized a crucial need for financial support to cover shipping costs for a container filled with supplies they hope to send to Jamaica by the end of the week.
"We already have people on the ground, but as soon as these items arrive, they are ready to start distributing," he added.
The extent of the damage on the island is still being assessed, as Hurricane Melissa continues to move through the Caribbean.
"It is devastating to see, it is sad to see but even more importantly, Joel, it's the spirit of Jamaica that I've seen this morning," said Clarke-Cooper, "with everybody saying we are ready to rebuild, because we have proven before that we are a resilient nation and we will be again."
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