MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Hurricane Melissa’s destructive path through Jamaica has left residents and visitors in South Florida anxiously checking on loved ones back home.

Ainsley Johnston, a barber in Miami Gardens, said he spoke with his brother Tuesday morning, who reported damage to a neighbor’s roof.

“I know it’s gonna be bad,” Johnston said.

Odean Fuller said he has been calling his mother daily since last week, worried about the storm’s impact.

“Me ask her what everything is looking like and the limbs falling down—it’s kinda crazy and chaotic at the same time, ya know,” he said.

Eunice Johnson said she lost her home in Myersville, St. Elizabeth.

She had restored the property after a previous hurricane and owned it for nearly 20 years.

Neighbors sent her video showing the home flooded and the roof ripped away.

“My community … one third of the houses there are all destroyed,” Johnson said.

Johnston said he can only hope for the best as Melissa continues to batter the island. “I just wish it never happened but it happens. I just hope for the best,” he said.

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