When the Eye Turns: Jamaica, Hurricane Melissa, and the Art of Holding On

It begins, as it always does, with a swirl on a screen.
A pale spiral forming over the Atlantic, a name whispered first in passing — Melissa.
At that point she is nothing more than an organised rumour: a tropical depression, a projection, a probability. But in the islands, we know how rumours behave. They grow. They gather energy. They take on lives of their own.

By the time the storm earns her title — Hurricane Melissa — the Caribbean has already begun to watch the skies differently. Farmers look to the horizon. Fishermen bring their boats ashore. Mothers count the candles and check the cupboards. The air itself seems to anticipate what’s coming.

There’s a kind of choreography to it all — one part science, one part faith. Jamaica knows this dance well.