By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Davis administration has given financial assistance to Bahamians who visited Jamaica for a wedding but did not leave in time and could not afford to extend their stay as Hurricane Melissa neared the island.

Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell declined to comment yesterday.

However, his predecessor, Darren Henfield, himself a Hurricane Dorian survivor, told The Tribune the 50-member group included residents of Abaco and Grand Bahama, who are now hunkering down at the Dreams Rose Hall Resort & Spa in Montego Bay. The group travelled to Jamaica to attend the wedding of Mr Henfield's brother.

Melissa, now a powerful Category Five hurricane, was expected to hit Jamaica this morning with fierce winds and torrential rain before moving toward Cuba and the southern Bahamas. Jamaica closed its airports on October 26 as the system approached.

Mr Henfield said they remain in contact with Jamaican and Bahamian officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper, who helped secure rooms for those unable to afford an extended stay. “That is very much appreciated by many in the group who did not (or) who were not prepared for an extended trip,” he said.

“We believe we're in the best possible place to be in Jamaica for such an event, and we're prepared as best as we can,” Mr Henfield added. “If I had to be stuck in a hurricane with any group of Bahamians anywhere in the world, I would pick the same group and change nothing about it.”

He said hotel officials held briefings yesterday to update guests on emergency protocols and advised them to pack overnight bags with essential items, documents, and medication in case of evacuation. A “muster point” was designated in the hotel lobby for those who might feel unsafe in their rooms during the storm.

Mr Henfield said the all-inclusive resort has promised to provide three meals a day as long as the weather permits.

The group, he added, is leaning on each other for emotional support, especially those still haunted by memories of Hurricane Dorian. A pastor travelling with them is offering counselling to anyone feeling distressed.

“We're here together,” Mr Henfield said. “We're sticking together as a group, as a family of friends and relatives and professionals together who worked with my sister in law, who's a teacher, and friends of hers and friends of my brothers and our families from both sides of the island. These things have a way of bringing people together especially when you’re in a foreign land.”

Meanwhile, at the University of the West Indies’ Mona Campus, about 17 Bahamian students remained on site, while 76 others were evacuated on a Bahamasair flight on Friday.

Victoria Jean-Jacques, president of the Bahamian Students Association in Jamaica, said conditions were calm yesterday despite howling winds and light rain, adding that students had taken every precaution to prepare for the storm.