News

Denever Forbes, owner of Floyd’s Pelican Bar in Parottee, St Elizabeth.
April 28, 2026 by Albert Ferguson

Pelican Bar stands once more amid Parottee’s struggle to recover

WESTERN BUREAU: When Hurricane Melissa battered Jamaica’s southern coastline six months ago, the fishing village of Parottee in St Elizabeth was left reeling from heavy losses. Homes were damaged,…
Jason Henzell, chairman, Jakes Hotel Villas & Spa in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth.
April 28, 2026 by Albert Ferguson

Treasure Beach rises again

WESTERN BUREAU: Treasure Beach in St Elizabeth has mounted a remarkable recovery in the wake of Hurricane Melissa, with residents and tourism stakeholders crediting not only reconstruction efforts but…
Howard Moxam, a fisherman from Calabash Bay Beach in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth, six months after Hurricane Melissa made a destructive landfall in the parish on October 28, 2025.
April 28, 2026 by Albert Ferguson

Fishermen slowly returning to sea as Mother Nature restores coastline

WESTERN BUREAU: Months after Hurricane Melissa battered Jamaica’s south coast, fishermen at Calabash Bay Fishing Beach in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth, are gradually returning to the sea, signalling…
Chantal McLean
April 28, 2026 by Keisha Hill

How Chantal McLean turned pain into a publishing platform for women

For Chantal McLean, the journey into publishing was not born in a classroom or corporate office; it was shaped in one of the most emotionally complex periods of her life. Today, through Dee D’s…
A section of the Claremont Market remains roofless months after Hurricane Melissa.
April 28, 2026 by Carl Gilchrist

Claremont Market still roofless

Vendors and customers who use the Claremont Market in St Ann continue to endure disruption as the building remains without a roof, six months after Hurricane Melissa tore through the parish in October…
Flooded farmland in Bog Hole, Clarendon, following the passage of Hurricane Melissa.
April 28, 2026 by Olivia Brown

Hurricane losses still bite Clarendon farmers

Six months after Hurricane Melissa sowed devastation across sections of Jamaica, leaving flooded fields, shattered infrastructure and livelihoods in ruins, farmers in Clarendon are still reaping the…
Rosemarie A. Henry (left), principal officer and VP, risk and compliance, CUNA Caribbean Insurance Jamaica and president, Insurance Association of Jamaica (IAJ), greets Matthew Samuda second right), Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Change, as Ev
April 28, 2026

Insurance leaders confront challenges of underinsurance and fraud

As Jamaica’s insurance sector faces persistent gaps in coverage and rising fraud risks, industry leaders call for a stronger, more inclusive, and accountable sector to support national resilience,…
A cruise ship docks at the port of Ocho Rios.
April 28, 2026 by Carl Gilchrist

All‑inclusives recover, villas struggle amid cruise uncertainty

Larger, all-inclusive hotels in the Ocho Rios-Runaway Bay corridor were largely spared the worst of October’s Hurricane Melissa and, six months on, are mostly recording their customary high occupancy…
Franceita Renford at her workstation on a corridor along West Street in Port Antonio, Portland.
April 28, 2026

Portland mother still waiting for help

Six months after Hurricane Melissa tore through eastern Portland, Franceita Renford is still struggling to rebuild her life. A mother of two who lives in the Rio Grande Valley, her home was destroyed…