“The entire town of Black River is devastated,” the town’s Mayor Richard Solomon has said.
He noted to local media the desperation of residents who are looting and – while not condoning it – said he understood why it was happening.
“It is a delicate balance,” Solomon said of the response to it. “Persons are seizing the opportunity to pick up what they can off the ground [from damaged stores]. However, you have others being a little bit more forceful, where they are trying to get into people’s properties to get all sorts of supplies.”
Local officials estimate that 90% of the houses here were destroyed. Much of the town’s vital infrastructure has been destroyed too, including the local hospital, police station and fire station.
“There are entire communities that seem to be marooned and areas that seem to be flattened,” Information Minister Dana Morris Dixon said.
Aid supplies are starting to arrive more rapidly to the main airport in Kingston, but smaller regional airports – some of which are located near where humanitarian assistance is most needed – remain only partly operational.
Aid agencies and the military are bringing in the urgently needed supplies from Kingston by land but many roads remain unpassable in places, including in places like Black River.
The town is about a two-hour drive from Kingston but the main road in is – at various points – flooded, damaged and clogged with cars.
