MIAMI — A mix of commercial and charter flights departed Miami International Airport on Friday, carrying relief supplies and evacuees to and from hurricane-battered Jamaica in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.
Project Dynamo, a Florida-based nonprofit that specializes in rescue and humanitarian missions, made its first of several planned trips to the island Friday, flying in from Key West with about 4,000 pounds of food, water and medical supplies. The group said it also plans to bring back stranded Americans.
“Our goal is to help both ways — deliver relief and bring people home,” said Bryan Stern, the organization’s founder.
The effort joins a growing number of relief missions from South Florida, including those by the Global Empowerment Mission and American Airlines.
Both groups have been sending flights packed with canned food, bottled water, batteries and other essential supplies to Jamaica, where Melissa’s Category 5 winds caused catastrophic damage earlier this week.
“There’s a lot of people down there without any homes,” said Wendy Yeekeow, who arrived at Miami International Airport on one of the first flights out of Kingston. “We passed a lot of houses that have been flooded out and the roofs are gone. Any kind of donation can help.”
American Airlines said it sent 1,600 pounds of goods on its first run to Kingston earlier this week, and more shipments are planned in the coming days.
Only a limited number of commercial flights have resumed from Kingston, mostly to transport aid workers and evacuees. Travelers who made it back to South Florida described terrifying experiences as Hurricane Melissa tore through the island.
“We were all huddled in the bathroom,” said traveler Jimetra Alexander, who returned Friday. “You could feel the winds coming through — glass was breaking, and we had our mattresses up against the glass door.”
Others said getting home took days, with multiple cancellations and damaged airports slowing the process.
Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport remains closed because of storm damage, leaving Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport as the main route in and out of the country.
“The parish of Manchester next to St. Elizabeth — it was horrible, horrible, horrible,” said another traveler who arrived in Miami.
Melissa, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, slammed into western Jamaica earlier this week with winds exceeding 160 mph, flattening homes and flooding entire communities.
“It was really, really scary,” said traveler Tyiesha Museau, who was among the first to land at MIA. “That was my first ever hurricane that I’ve ever been through. Leaving out of there, it was just a relief. People haven’t taken showers — they did feed us — the Jamaicans, they took very good care of us who were left on the resort.”
Alexander said while getting out of Jamaica was difficult, she hopes more flights will open soon to help others still stuck on the island.
“Today’s flights are mostly commercial ones going to and from Kingston’s airport,” officials said. “Charter and cargo planes are also doing limited flights in and out of the island nation to deliver aid.”
“I’m so happy to be back,” said Jimetra Alexander, another returning traveler. “We still have to get to Atlanta, but we’re safe.”
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