When Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica as a Category 5 storm on Oct. 28, 2025, a veteran storm chaser described it as far more violent than anything he thought was “safe.” In the aftermath, residents say families were left with nothing but debris, and missionaries
Josh Morgerman had seen hurricanes at their worst before, but Hurricane Melissa changed the way he thought about safety.
“I was actually pretty scared… scared like I wished I was, you know, not there,” the veteran storm chaser said as Hurricane Melissa ripped into the west coast of Jamaica.
Melissa made landfall on Oct. 28, 2025, as a Category 5 storm with winds clocked at 185 mph and peak gust over 200 mph. The storm’s intensity tied for the most powerful hurricane landfall in the Atlantic and was the strongest hurricane ever to hit Jamaica.
Morgerman stayed through the entire event, hunkered down in a hotel as the storm peaked. He said the experience matched the data—and then some.
“It lived up to what the data was showing before it hit — absolute ferocious,” he said.
What stayed with him most wasn’t just the pressure or the threat. It was the sound.
“The sound of the wind — the screaming sound — it hurt your ear,” Morgerman said. “You wanted to cover your ears.”
He also described a shock that went beyond noise: the damage to structures that were supposed to withstand storms.
“I always thought concrete buildings were totally safe in hurricanes,” he said. “Not in Melissa. Some concrete buildings collapsed. That’s how intense it was.”
Along the coastline, the storm’s violence wasn’t abstract. It was personal.
“Hurricane Melissa was really traumatic for most of us who live near the coastline,” one resident said in the aftermath.
After the winds passed, the scale of what disappeared became plain. Destruction stretched as far as the eye could see, and residents were left with nothing but debris and uncertainty.
Residents in Black River told missionaries from Bethel’s Family Church that it will take years to build the infrastructures back.
The impact didn’t stay on the island. More than a thousand miles away, Bethel’s Family Church in southwest Houston began mobilizing support for Jamaica.
“We start seeking donations — financial donations — as well as donations that involve meds, clothing,” Pastor Craig Taylor said.
Among those stepping forward was Alfred Sterling Jr., who headed to Jamaica just months after the storm. His message was blunt: the devastation was overwhelming.
“Stores, communities, schools, even churches, hospitals… had all been pretty much devastated by the hurricane,” Sterling said. “It was very heartbreaking.”
Sterling said he was able to help in part because of what he had lived through before—hurricanes like Betsy and Katrina.
“Experiencing those things in the past helped me and prepared me to be of better help… to those that I came in contact with in Jamaica,” he said.
Now, Sterling is heading back to the island with 40 other volunteers, carrying dozens of suitcases filled with medical supplies.
“Our primary function is to serve the people in a medical capacity,” Sterling said. “Providing any type of medical assistance… over-the-counter medications… doing eye exams, dental work, hearing exams.”
Pastor Craig Taylor said the effort is bigger than supplies.
“Hope — that’s the main thing,” Taylor said.
“We are the hands and feet of God,” Taylor added. “And we want to be that visible hope… because we actually are the prayers answered.”
For people who want to help with the next mission trip, Bethel’s Global Reach has details online at bethelsglobalreach.org/contact/.
Hurricane Melissa Jamaica Bethel’s Family Church Houston missions Craig Taylor Alfred Sterling Jr. storm chaser medical supplies donations