The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Paradis Ace Hardware.
BAR HARBOR—They prayed together at five p.m., Monday, but many of the housekeeping staff at Bar Harbor Manor have been praying before and after as Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 hurricane, was bearing down on their homes, friends, and family in Jamaica.
“We’ve been praying all day,” said Heather Nevers as she perched on the edge of a chair near two other staff members. “We pray and pray.”
They pray alone. They pray in groups. They have prayer chains and group chats as they work in Bar Harbor and hope that their families, their homes, and their country will be okay.
Hurricane Melissa will likely bring catastrophic flooding and storm surge to Jamaica. The families of Janet Blake, RoseMarie Bell-Hylton, and Nevers have been working to secure their homes and animals.
The women are three of many workers from Jamaica who spend the season in Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island. They are here on visas for the season. Some have come for many years, making Bar Harbor their community, too. They work cleaning, cooking, landscaping, and so many other jobs, all to bring money back home to their families.
Now, those families are facing a hurricane that is the strongest in the Atlantic Ocean so far this year just as the women are ending their season.
“We are all very concerned,” Bell-Hylton said from a red chair in the lounge of the Bar Harbor Manor. Her arms wrapped around each other as she leaned forward. She took a deep breath. “We are all very concerned, so concerned.”
Those who had hoped to be flying home tomorrow after months of working in Bar Harbor had flights cancelled because the airport had shut down. This has also happened to those who had flights home booked for Halloween, which is also the day their visas expire.
The employees at the Bar Harbor Manor will be housed and safe until they get back home, but they will not be able to earn money after their visas run out at the end of the week.
That’s not what they are worried about. They are worried about their homes, their families, the same families that they’ve been away from for months.
”They are battening down and tying things up and fixing up,” Blake said of the preparations her family members were undertaking as they got ready for the storm.
Their families are putting sand bags on structures, taping things down, putting plywood across windows. They were worried that they would be stubborn and not head to shelters if they need to.
“People will say, ‘I’m not leaving,’” Nevers said.
But there is a high risk of landslides and homes collapsing. They want them to go to the shelters, to be safe.
They all spoke of past hurricanes they had lived through, of power being out from July through September. They had hope about the infrastructure now with Prime Minister Andrew Holness.
“I believe now it’s a bit more advanced. This prime minister that we have is a little bit more advanced,” Blake said of the country’s infrastructure and emergency efforts.
Still, they are worried.
“Some houses are going to slide. Some houses are going to break. Some are going to flood out. Some are going to smash,” Bell-Hylton said.
The hurricane has been creeping over the country tonight and also on Tuesday before it’s expected to go across southeastern Cuba, Tuesday night. The landfall predictions have varied, but it is currently estimated to occur on Tuesday morning, close to 8 a.m., in St. Elizabeth Parish. It could potentially bring 40 inches of rain.
“It is worst cause it is coming in the night,” Nevers said.
The Jamaican government has estimated that 50,000 people might be displaced.
Part of the problem is that the hurricane is both intense and slow moving, going at a pace described by New York Times meteorologist Judson Jones, “a speed no faster than a person can walk.”
Basically, it’s moving at approximately 3 m.p.h., which makes the impacts of the wind and rain much greater.
“We are watching it constantly,” Nevers said.
As they cleaned the rooms, Monday, the TVs were on the Weather Channel. They checked YouTube or called home or use WhatsApp during breaks.
“It is scary. It is really scary. Watching the weather is really scary,” Bell-Hylton said.
As they watch, Blake said, the storm’s impact and track becomes “worse and worse than before.”
The storm is expected to bring winds to Jamaica for more than 24 hours and that, combined with the rain, is expected to damage the country’s infrastructure and cause outages in communications and power. It will also cause storm surge on Jamaica’s east side that will bring the sea nine to 13 feet above its normal ground level.
“Our crops, our food. We’re going to lose them. My banana tree. My plantain. We will lose them all,” Blake said. She has hopes for the jack fruit, which she said is a strong tree
“It might be the only tree standing,” she said.
When it was 145 miles southwest of Kingston late Monday morning, Melissa had 165 mph sustained winds. By eight, Monday night, the sustained winds were 175 mph. Those winds gusted even higher as Jamaica evacuated lower areas and opened hundred of shelters.
The Bar Harbor Manor employees are just a handful of people from Jamaica who work in Bar Harbor over the tourist season.
“Each year, many visa workers come to Bar Harbor and work hard for our businesses and visitors. We will keep each of them in our thoughts and prayers as the island nation faces the storm,” the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce said Monday.
Most of the Jamaican workers at the Manor arrived in May and have been saving money to send home to their families, spending months in the United States to help their “babies and grandbabies” back home, they said.
Now, it seems likely that the money that they’ve earned will end up rebuilding their homes and their communities.
According to Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness the country’s western side will likely face the worst impacts, but there will likely be impacts and stories for each of the women, and their families, especially since they all live in different parishes. There are 2.8 million people who live in Jamaica. The storm (as of Monday evening) was not showing any signs of weakening.The Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) has been mobilized.
“My story will be different from Janet’s story will be different from Heather’s story,” Bell-Hylton said Monday.
“We will come through it,” one woman said, her voice overlapping with the others as they agreed. “We will come through.”
We will update this story and/or have another article as local fundraiser efforts are finalized.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
How Blue Barrels Bring U.S. Goods Back Home
Unless otherwise specified, photos Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story.
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