"Trelawney Parish sits in a rural, agricultural region of Western Jamaica that borders the country's largest contiguous rainforest. Under normal circumstances, the parish is relentlessly green - covered in lush vegetation and long rows of orange trees - but the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa has "almost completely annihilated" the area, according to firefighter Ronell Hamilton. "Everything here is brown right now. It looks like California.""
"The strongest storm to strike Jamaica in recorded history, Melissa arrived on the island last week as a Category 5 storm with wind speeds of 185 miles per hour. As of press time, at least 67 people had been killed - 32 in Jamaica, 34 from flooding in Haiti, and one in the Dominican Republic - and thousands of homes have been flattened."
"Climate change is making monster storms like Melissa more powerful by supercharging the meteorological elements in which they thrive: Warming ocean waters feed hurricanes, as does warming air. Studies have shown that the atmosphere can hold 7 percent more moisture for every 1 degree Celsius of warming. Elevated wind speeds allow storms to carry more moisture as well, leaving devastating flooding in their wake."
Western Jamaica's Trelawney Parish and surrounding areas were nearly annihilated by Hurricane Melissa, which struck as a Category 5 storm with 185 mph winds. At least 67 people died across Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, thousands of homes were flattened, and entire communities such as Black River lost about 90 percent of structures. Even designated hurricane shelters, including schools and fire stations, were severely damaged. Vegetation and crops were decimated, turning green landscapes brown. Climate change intensified the storm by warming ocean and air temperatures, increasing atmospheric moisture and wind speeds that amplify rainfall and flooding.
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