We Will Rise Again: A Post-Melissa Reflection

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A storm can level homes, but it also reveals what we stand on. Hurricane Melissa’s record winds and devastating surge tore through Jamaica and neighboring territories, but the story is bigger than wind speed—it’s a living history of language, science, memory, and community that runs through the Caribbean. We trace the roots of “hurricane” to Taino and Kalinago cosmologies, revisit Cuba’s pioneering forecasting under Father Benito Viñez, and connect these legacies to today’s urgent fight for climate justice and long-term recovery.

I open up about the shock of seeing beloved places underwater and the ache of waiting on WhatsApp for family updates from afar. This episode offers more than reflection; it’s a roadmap. You’ll hear concrete ways to help now and sustain support later, from vetted donations and mutual aid to advocacy for loss-and-damage financing and regional capacity-building. If the Caribbean sits on the front lines of climate change while contributing the least to its causes, then fairness means resources, protection, and policy that match the stakes. Listen, share the links, and stand with communities rebuilding today for a safer tomorrow. If this conversation moved you, subscribe, leave a review, and pass it on so more people can act with us.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to Strictly Facts, a guide to Caribbean
history and culture, hosted byme, Alexandra Miller.
Strictly Facts teaches thehistory, politics, and activism
of the Caribbean and connectsthese themes to contemporary
music and popular culture.

(00:21):
Hello everyone and welcome backto another episode of Strictly
Facts, a guide to Caribbeanhistory and culture.
It is with both a heavy andhopeful heart that our episode
today centers on the recentevents and impact of Hurricane
Melissa.
The last few weeks have beentremendously difficult, with
despair and worry weighing onmany of us, but I've personally

(00:43):
found strength in how we haverallied together as an
international community inMelissa's wake.
What's happening right now inthe region isn't just another
hurricane season story.
On October 28th of this year,Hurricane Melissa made landfall
on western Jamaica with winds of185 miles per hour.

(01:05):
The Category 5 hurricane alsodevastated multiple territories
across the region, includingHaiti, Cuba, Bahamas, and the
Dominican Republic, just to namea few, with speeds exceeding
most hurricanes in our recenthistory.
Melissa is now tied with the1935 Labor Day Hurricane as the

(01:25):
strongest Atlantic hurricanelandfall ever recorded.
Melissa for one is the strongesthurricane to ever hit Jamaica,
surpassing the previous recordholder, Hurricane Gilbert, in
1988, which hit as a categoryfour.
The numbers are still coming in,but it's reported that of close
to 100 lives have been lostacross the region.

(01:48):
In Jamaica alone, many of theaffected areas are still without
power.
The storm brought up to 30inches of rain in some parts of
the island, with storm surgesreaching 14 feet.
The Prime Minister has declaredJamaica a disaster area per the
Disaster Risk Management Act,allowing the government the

(02:10):
authority to prioritizelife-saving actions and
policies.
In addition to the damage inJamaica, Hurricane Melissa also
displaced over 735,000 people inCuba, destroyed over 12,000
homes in Haiti, and causedflooding and storm surges in the
Dominican Republic, the Bahamas,and Turks and Caicos.

(02:32):
Natural disasters have alwaysshaped the Caribbean, but in
many lesser-known ways,Caribbean people have also left
our imprint on these disastersas well.
Hurricanes have influencedmigration patterns, agricultural
change, and political decisions.
They've also shaped memory,carved deeply into how Caribbean

(02:54):
people understand vulnerability,survival, and collective
strength.
Hurricanes have been soentrenched in our history that
the word hurricane itself can betraced back to indigenous
Caribbean spirituality andcosmology.
The Taino and Kalinago wordhurrican both refer to a spirit

(03:14):
or deity of storms and chaos,not unlike the Maya god
hurricane or the concept ofsupernatural forces tied to wind
and water.
When the Spanish arrived, theyadopted the Taino word into
Huracan.
The English later adopted itinto the word we know today,
hurricane.
So even linguistically,Caribbean people, specifically

(03:38):
indigenous Caribbean people,gave the world the word for one
of nature's most powerfulforces.
There is something profound inthe fact that we named the
storm.
We have endured the storm and wecontinue to rebuild after them.
Additionally, the study ofhurricane forecasting is deeply
tied to the region.

(03:59):
The first real hurricane warningsystem was established in Cuba
in the early 1870s by a Jesuitpriest named Father Benito
Vinias.
As director of theMeteorological Observatory at
the Royal College of Belén inHavana, he created a network of
observation sites throughoutCuba and established

(04:21):
communication with otherCaribbean islands using undersea
telegraph cables.
Vinias studied cloud patterns,barometric pressure, and wind
direction.
He was essentially doing whatmeteorologists do today, but
with 19th century technology.
And on September 11, 1875, hemade what's considered the first

(04:43):
hurricane forecast, warning thata storm in the Eastern Caribbean
would hit Cuba the next day.
His track prediction wasn'tperfect, he was slightly off,
but his revolutionary work gavepeople warning.
The U.S.
went on to develop theirhurricane forecasting system
more than two decades later,eventually collaborating with

(05:05):
Cuba's service, which by thattime was employing Viñez's
methods.
For many people across theregion, hurricanes and hurricane
season are not only deeplyemotional, but they are
political and historical eventsmarked in memories forever.
In the last 25 years alone,Hurricanes Ivan, Irma, Maria,

(05:27):
and Beryl are just a few thathave left an indelible mark on
islands like Grenada, PuertoRico, Barbuda, Dominica, and the
Cayman Islands, to name a few.
For many Jamaicans, especiallythose who grew up in the 1980s,
Hurricane Gilbert remains adefining collective memory.

(05:47):
People remember zinc roofsflying, the sound of wind like
roaring spirits, days withoutelectricity, and the ways
communities pulled together withfood and help.
Having listened to the membersof my own family, it feels like
everyone has a Gilbert story.
Some remember it with humor,like the song Wild Gilbert by

(06:10):
Loving Dear, but beneath thathumor was fear, uncertainty, and
eventually resilience.
Gilbert sits in Caribbean memorythe way Katrina sits in American
memory.
It reminds Jamaicans and theworld of the power of nature and
vulnerability created by poorinfrastructure, under-resourced

(06:31):
state services, and geographicalprecarity.
Melissa joins that lineage, notto replicate trauma, but to
remind us that storms in theCaribbean are never simply
natural disasters.
They are markers in our memoryand live realities for decades
to come.
Hurricane Melissa's pathresonates deeply because it is

(06:52):
both familiar and uniquelypainful.
We witnessed massive flooding,infrastructure collapse, lives
lost, communities devastated,and presently trying to survive
before we can even consider whatit means to rebuild.
It pains me to have even lookedon social media and seen places

(07:12):
that I grew up walking in thestreets of St.
Elizabeth, gone and decimated inthe wake of the hurricane.
In the few weeks since, we haveseen tremendous commitment
though.
People risking their own livesto save others, diaspora
families glued to WhatsApp,neighbors sharing supplies,

(07:32):
phone chargers, hope,international support as aid
from nonprofits, NGOs, andneighboring states come in.
Melissa forces us to confront arecurring truth.
The Caribbean has always been atthe front lines of climate
disaster, despite contributingalmost nothing to the emissions

(07:56):
causing them.
This is a story we've heardbefore of our plantation
economies ravaged modern globalcapitalism driving climate
change, and yet we continue topay the price.
And even still, we move, werebuild, and we restore.
In light of everything that I'veseen on social media, I also

(08:18):
want to touch on something I'venoticed before and after the
storm and have seen someconflicting responses to.
Humor is a Caribbean copingmechanism, in the same way that

(08:42):
the song Wild Gilbert functionsto provide some reflections and
some humor on the hurricane.
Famous producer StephenEugenious McGregor also posted a
short snippet of a song onsocial media about Melissa,
urging everyone to stay safewhile also using some sounds of

(09:02):
a popular meme.
It is cultural therapy in manyways to do things like this:
storytelling, deflection, andrelease.
It is a survival tactic usedsince slavery and colonialism, a
form of black joy and freedom,even in uncertainty.
The laughter does not mean wedon't care.

(09:24):
It means we feel deeply and wecope creatively.
It means we will not surrenderour spirit to fear.
This is just part of who we are.
I also want to take a moment toreflect on what this moment has
meant for the diaspora.
Watching Melissa from afar hasbeen hard, especially as we've

(09:44):
waited to hear from family onthe ground.
There is a particular kind ofanxiety that those of us in the
diaspora know, refreshingmessages to make sure family is
safe, hoping power comes backsoon, checking community
WhatsApp chats, holding ourbreath through every voice note.

(10:05):
It is a complicated position tobe in, loving home from afar,
and I have seen many of usrespond by organizing donations,
gathering supplies, andamplifying the importance of
collective action on ourplatforms.
In this moment, while I know wewill rebuild, I know that we

(10:26):
have, because we've done it timeand time again, I also want to
acknowledge the hurt and pain weare feeling.
For me to see my owngrandmother's house in an
Instagram reel posted by thePrime Minister before I even
heard from family was hard.
And I am in many groups withpeople still waiting to hear

(10:47):
back from their loved ones.
I know there is a tremendousamount of pain in this moment,
but we will rise.
Lastly, I could not end thisepisode, of course, without a
call to action.
As we honor our history and ouremotions, we must also act.
Recovery is ongoing, and ourislands need our support

(11:10):
immediately and in the monthsahead.
If you have the ability, pleaseconsider donating to many of the
relief organizations workingdirectly on the ground.
I will include a list of some ofthem in my show notes, as well
as links in our bio and onlineon our website to some of these
relief organizations assistingwith food, shelter, and

(11:32):
rebuilding efforts and long-termsupport, and have been reposting
many of them on social media aswell.
Beyond donating, here's what wecan all do: share the links with
your networks, supportCaribbean-based environmental
organizations, advocate forclimate justice and global
accountability, and rememberthat disaster response is not

(11:57):
only emergency relief, butlong-term rebuilding and policy
change.
Our region deserves not justrecovery, but protection,
investment, and dignity.
In closing, thank you for beinghere, for caring about our
region, and for standing incommunity with Caribbean people
everywhere.

(12:17):
May we continue to honor ourhistory, uplift each other, and
remember, we have weatheredstorms before, we will again,
and we will survive together.
Until next time, stay safe, stayinformed, and stay connected.
Lickle more.
Thanks for tuning in to StrictlyFacts.

(12:37):
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