Recovery efforts are underway in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa throughout the Caribbean. Authorities say at least 50 people have died as a result of the hurricane, and the death toll is expected to rise.
The category 5 storm moved in with winds of 185 miles per hour in Jamaica, destroying homes, causing widespread power outages, and blocking roads, making cleanup efforts much more difficult.
Government officials say whole communities have been wiped out or isolated.
CBN’s Operation Blessing is already in Montego Bay, partnering with a local church. The team arrived after sundown on Wednesday and began handing out solar lamps to bring light in the darkness.
“It looks crazy…but you know God is with us and this is a ray of hope for the families,” said Operation Blessings’s Diego Traverso, describing the impact of the solar lamps. “We just park and people start coming out of the darkness to get one of the solar lamps.”
“This is just the story of Operation Blessing. We show up in dark places, and people come, attracted by the light. Such a metaphor of the Gospel,” Traverso said.
In the coming days, the team will distribute emergency food and supplies, clean water and water purification systems, and medical care to the community.
Operation Blessing’s Global Disaster Response team reports it is “ready to bring food, clean water, hygiene supplies, and most importantly hope in Jesus’ name.”
Click here to give to the Operation Blessing disaster relief effort.
