Brent resident Mandy Tomlin said she has been left ‘traumatised’ after fights broke out over food
Fighting In Restaurant
“They were fighting for survival because in their mind they didn’t know what was going to happen…It was crazy and chaotic.” When Brent resident Mandy Tomlin and her friend travelled to Ochi in Jamaica with plans for two weeks of sun, sand, and activities they did not expect to get caught up in truly shocking scenes.
Just two days into the holiday the 5-star hotel went into a lockdown on Saturday (October 26) as the island braced for the impact of Hurricane Melissa and before the hurricane hit it sparked chaos amongst some hotel guests. Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) from the hotel in Ochi, Mandy Tomlin explained: “When we got here we weren’t given any notice about the hurricane, nobody told us about it. When we arrived it was alright, we had maybe two days of full activities and then [the hotel] had to start preparing.”
Guests were informed of the lockdown plan via the hotel’s app on Saturday. The night before they were given food parcels, consisting mainly of packs of noodles. Mandy said: “It was like we were in prison. For a 5-star hotel it was ridiculous, everybody was complaining.”
There was no breakfast the following morning but guests were given time slots to collect lunch from the hotel restaurant around midday. However, many people turned up all at once resulting in long queues and fights erupted.
Mandy said: “Everyone was trying to get in first because people were taking all the food in the restaurant. They were fighting for survival because in their mind they didn’t know what was going to happen. They’ve got little ones that they’ve got to feed. It was crazy and chaotic. […] My friends’ children and us were traumatised.”
Mandy explained that the police were eventually called to deal with the situation but criticised the hotel management, suggesting they “didn’t know what they were doing” and “had no policy and practice in place”. She also claimed there was no WIFI or telephone access for three days.
Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica as a category five hurricane – the strongest on the scale – on Tuesday (October 28), making it the strongest to hit the island in modern history. Melissa’s estimated maximum sustained wind speeds of 185 mph were well above the 157mph or higher threshold to fall within that category.
Hurricane Melissa
Whilst the effects felt in Ochi were not as severe as other parts of the island, Mandy described hearing “trees snapping and the wind rattling the doors”. She said: “It was terrifying because obviously we have never been in a situation like this before so we didn’t know what to do. A lot of people were hiding in bathrooms.”
The hotel lockdown is still in place but Mandy said things have “calmed down now”. She had also planned to pick up some legal documents relating to her late mother – who was a Jamaican national – but is unsure whether he will be able to do so before she heads back to London on November 7.
Mandy added: “People are not roaming around the hotel because there’s still fallen leaves and we’re not leaving the hotel. […] We don’t know what’s going to [remain] locked off or when we’re going to regain full services.”
The Jamaican government has ordered evacuations from high-risk areas, and all of the country’s airports are shut. As many as 8,000 British nationals are in Jamaica, and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has urged them to register their presence through the Government website to receive updates on the hurricane.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said that the UK is ready to provide Jamaica with humanitarian support in the wake of Hurricane Melissa as he described the scenes as “truly shocking”. Sir Kier told MPs on Wednesday that naval vessel HMS Trent and “specialist rapid deployment teams” had been “pre-positioned in the region” to provide support.
He told the Commons: ““The scenes of destruction emerging from Jamaica are truly shocking. Both the Foreign Secretary and I have been in close contact with our Jamaican counterparts in recent days to offer the UK’s full support.”
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