gust over 200 mph <\/a>, strength that tied for the most powerful hurricane landfall in the Atlantic, and the strongest hurricane ever to hit Jamaica.<\/p>\nMorgerman, known for documenting extreme weather, stayed through the entire event, hunkered down in a hotel as the storm peaked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt lived up to what the data was showing before it hit \u2014 absolute ferocious,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wind was screaming\u201d<\/h3>\n
Even for someone who chases the world\u2019s worst storms, Melissa was different.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sound of the wind \u2014 the screaming sound \u2014 it hurt your ear,\u201d Morgerman said. \u201cYou wanted to cover your ears.\u201d<\/p>\n
What unsettled him most wasn\u2019t just the noise or the pressure \u2014 it was what the storm did to buildings that were supposed to hold.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always thought concrete buildings were totally safe in hurricanes,\u201d \u201cNot in Melissa. Some concrete buildings collapsed. That\u2019s how intense it was.\u201dhe said.<\/p>\n
After the winds: families left with nothing<\/h3>\n
When the storm finally passed, the view outside revealed just how much had been stripped away.<\/p>\n
Destruction stretched as far as the eye could see, and families were left with nothing but debris and uncertainty. Residents on in Black River told missionaries from Bethel\u2019s Family Church that it will take years to build the infrastructures back. <\/p>\n
A call for help from southwest Houston<\/h3>\n
That setback weighed on people far beyond the island.<\/p>\n
More than a thousand miles away, Bethel\u2019s Family Church \u2014 nestled in southwest Houston \u2014 began mobilizing support for Jamaica, urging its congregation to give what they could.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe start seeking donations \u2014 financial donations \u2014 as well as donations that involve meds, clothing,\u201d Pastor Craig Taylor said.<\/p>\n
A volunteer who knows hurricanes \u2014 and heartbreak<\/h3>\n
Alfred Sterling Jr. was among the first to step up, heading to Jamaica just months after the storm.<\/p>\n
\u201cStores, communities, schools, even churches, hospitals\u2026 had all been pretty much devastated by the hurricane,\u201d Sterling said. \u201cIt was very heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sterling is no stranger to disaster. He\u2019s lived through hurricanes like Betsy and Katrina \u2014 experiences he says helped prepare him for what he saw in Jamaica.<\/p>\n
\u201cExperiencing those things in the past helped me and prepared me to be of better help\u2026 to those that I came in contact with in Jamaica,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Bringing medical care \u2014 and hope<\/h3>\n
Now, Sterling is heading back to the island with 40 other volunteers, carrying dozens of suitcases filled with medical supplies.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur primary function is to serve the people in a medical capacity,\u201d Sterling said. \u201cProviding any type of medical assistance\u2026 over-the-counter medications\u2026 doing eye exams, dental work, hearing exams.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pastor Craig Taylor says the goal is bigger than supplies.<\/p>\n
\u201cHope \u2014 that\u2019s the main thing,\u201d said Pastor Taylor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are the hands and feet of God,\u201d Taylor added. \u201cAnd we want to be that visible hope\u2026 because we actually are the prayers answered.\u201d<\/p>\n
How you can help: <\/h3>\n
Check out Bethel\u2019s Global Reach if you want to donate to their next mission trip: bethelsglobalreach.org\/contact\/<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/div>\nCopyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI was actually pretty scared\u2026 scared like I wished I was, you know, not there.\u201d That\u2019s how veteran storm chaser<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_animmysite_disable_animation":false,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/graham-media-group\/image\/upload\/f_auto\/q_auto\/c_thumb,w_700\/v1\/media\/gmg\/NMSLEEOSTFD5JNVGK22ZIOLTJI.jpg?_a=DATAg1iuZAA0","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[212],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}