Lancelot Radcliffe was in tears near the Sangster International Airport, which remained closed on Thursday, east of Montego Bay, Jamaica, after Hurricane Melissa.

Radcliffe, who has family in South Florida, said he and his sister were crying and hugging each other after walking through flood waters to be reunited after the storm.

Radcliffe said his house smelled like sewage because of the mud and the fish. He said the damage in the countryside had caused desperate people to go to his house to ask for help.

“It’s really bad,” Radcliffe said. “America, Jamaica needs you guys. They need help down here, please. See what you can do to help these people here because Jamaica is really destroyed.”

Radcliffe is among the Jamaicans who have been trying to fly out of the Caribbean island, while workers repair their home. He said he plans to fly to his home in Philadelphia and return to Jamaica in December.

“I have my life, so once I have life, I have hopes,” Radcliffe said. “In Jamaica, we said, ‘When a man is not dead, don’t call him duppy,’ that means ghost, don’t call him a ghost, because he is still alive.

jAMAICAN OFFICIAL’S UPDATES

Daryl Vaz, Jamaica’s transportation minister, said the Ian Fleming International Airport, in the northeastern town of Boscobel, and the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston had reopened to commercial passenger flights.

“Our immediate focus is on reopening main routes, especially those leading to hospitals and critical facilities, while addressing public health and waste management concerns,” Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness wrote on Thursday morning on X.

Desmond McKenzie, the minister of local government, said there were 521 shelters in operation with about 13,000 people. He said six parishes were impacted: Manchester, St. Elizabeth, Trelawny, Hanover, Westmoreland, and St. James.

“Over 170 communities within these parishes have been moderately or severely affected,” McKenzie said.

Holness referred to southwestern Jamaica’s coastal town of Black River, in the St. Elizabeth parish, as “ground zero.” McKenzie said there was food and water on the way for Black River Mayor Richard Solomon.

Dana Morris Dixon, Jamaica’s education minister, said the Jamaica Defence Force has been helping to move patients out of Black River Hospital and using a helicopter to help recover bodies.

“There are many people who are trying to reach their loved ones and they are not getting through, so it’s a priority for us to get some more avenues for telecommunication,” Morris Dixon said.

Matthew Samuda, the minister of water, said pipes were washed away in northwest Jamaica, and a temporary connection should be up by Sunday evening, and the work should be finished in about six weeks. He said the damage assessment was still ongoing in St. Elizabeth parish.

Edmund Bartlett, the tourism minister, said the goal is to have the tourism industry “fully back” in operation by Dec. 15.

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