Jamaicans in Volusia County and Central Florida are rallying to help family, friends and residents of the island nation as they begin recovering from the floods and destruction left in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.
Roschell Johnson, of Orange City, said her family members are in the central part of the island in May Pen and Clarendon. She said they didn’t have too much damage.
“They’re good, damage here and there, but they are good,” Johnson said. “It was just a lot of wind, a lot of rain, a lot of flooding.“
While her family was not flooded, residents elsewhere were not as fortunate.
“A lot more people’s homes are flooded and the roofs are gone,” Johnson said.
She added that Hurricane Melissa won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
“It was a bad one,” Johnson said. “It was a real bad one.”
She said hard-hit areas include Montego Bay and Mandaville, adding it was mostly the western part of the island.
Redemption City Church in Daytona Beach is “currently making plans to provide relief for Jamaica,” wrote Nicole Gossett, of the church, which currently meets at Champion Elementary School.
“One of our elders is from Jamaica and has contacts on the ground, so we’re working to determine the best ways to offer support,” Gossett wrote.
Kevin Miller, who owns the Better Jerk Jamaican restaurant in Daytona Beach, said on the morning of Oct. 29 that he could not get through to any of his friends and family in Jamaica.
But he said he is not worried because right after the storm passed he did get a text from family in St. Ann Parish, saying they did not have too much damage in their area.
Hurricane Melissa causes flooding, wrecks roofs in Jamaica
The Jamaican American Association of Central Florida in Orlando is asking for contributions to help the island recover, said Joan Edghill, the association’s president.
“We are asking for funds because it’s more efficient,” Edghill said. “It’s easier so that’s what we are asking for here.”
Drone view of a traffic jam and flooding after Hurricane Melissa made landfall in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, Oct. 29, 2025.
She said that she was thankful that the death toll so far is low.
“Thank God that lives were spared,” Edghill said. “The death toll is not bad but the destruction is devastating. It’s almost everywhere. Houses down, crops destroyed.”
She said her family in Jamaica was safe but there was devastation around them.
Volusia Caribbean group works to help Jamaicans
Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce of Volusia County is collaborating with other Jamaican groups to help out, said Naomi Gayle, a Deltona resident and president of the association.
She said most of her family in Jamaica lives in the eastern section of the country, which was not as hard hit as the western and southwestern area.
“The rivers are flooded, the streets are flooded, homes are flooded and some roofs are gone,” Gayle said. “There’s a lot of flooding.”
Drone view of damage to coastal homes after Hurricane Melissa made landfall, in Alligator Pond, Jamaica, Oct. 29, 2025.
Jamaica diaspora rallies for island after Hurricane Melissa
The Jamaicans on the island are never forgotten, said Rosemarie Roth, a Clermont resident who is outreach director for a region of the Jamaican Global Diaspora covering 13 southern states in the United States.
She said her relatives in Tweedside and Cave Valley, Jamaica, weren’t injured but, like other residents of the island, were left with a large rebuilding job ahead.
“Those that make it off the island, we always remember those back home,” Roth said.
She said the organization helps the island every time it is hit by a hurricane.
She said one of her relatives lost the roof to their home.
“Every room was blown out except one room so they all gathered in that room for safety,” she said.
Palm trees sway in Kingston, Jamaica, before Hurricane Melissa made landfall on Oct. 28, 2025.
She has watched videos on social media of the wreckage in the hurricane’s wake.
“Your heart will be broken from the devastation. They lost everything,” Roth said.
She said the island was hit last year by Beryl, which was, like Melissa, another powerful hurricane.
“They were just recovering from the last hurricane and now here it is,” Roth said. “But we are so used to rebuilding, I think that cleaning up the mess has become second nature to them, hard workers, very hard workers.”
She said Jamaicans woke up to a new reality.
“Jamaica thrives on the sun, as being branded as a paradise,” Roth said. “And they are waking up this morning, that paradise is really memories in their mind.”
But she said they will rebuild.
How to help Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa
Drone view of damage to coastal homes after Hurricane Melissa made landfall, in Alligator Pond, Jamaica, Oct. 29, 2025.
For information on how to help, call Gayle at 407-431-7418 at the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce, Volusia County.
Those interested in helping can also contact Rosemarie Roth, the regional outreach coordinator for the Jamaican Diaspora, at 352-321-0932.
The Jamaican American Association of Central Florida provided a website where people could donate at JAAOCF.com
Alpha Point Community Builders, a Florida nonprofit, listed the following needed items on a flyer about how to help: building materials, groceries, adult and children’s diapers, children’s books, hygiene items, solar lights and tarpaulins.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Jamaicans in Florida rally to help island after Hurricane Melissa
