In Hurricane Melissa's wake, Jamaican expats can only wait and pray

Kemoy Gordon, 34, a St. Elizabeth's Treasure Beach, Jamaica, native, stands at Kingston Bakery Harlem, where he is a chef, in New York City, U.S., October 29, 2025. Kemoy says he feels 'very emotional' about Hurricane Melissa's destruction in Jamaica. REUTERS/Aleksandra Michalska

NEW YORK (Reuters) -New York chef Kemoy Gordon last spoke to his cousin in Jamaica on Monday, as his family prepared to leave their beachside home on the western part of the Caribbean island ahead of Hurricane Melissa. That was the last time he made contact with them.

“I haven’t heard from them since. The phone line is off, the electricity is off. I can’t get in contact with anybody down there,” said Gordon, 34, who works in a Jamaican bakery in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. “I don’t know what’s going on and don’t know how they are affected.”