Robert Lalah, Staff Reporter

Buildings left in ruin after Hurricane Charlie walloped Jamaica in 1951. - Gleaner Archives

On this day, 55 years ago, Hurricane Charlie swept across Jamaica with mind-boggling force that within a matter of hours left the entire island in complete shambles. With 110mph winds, and rains that reached 17 inches in Kingston, the 1951 hurricane left 154 persons dead, more than 2,000 injured and an estimated 25,000 persons homeless. It was the worst natural disaster to hit Jamaica since the Great Kingston Earthquake of 1907.

On that day, the nation awoke to a warning on the front page of The Gleaner: 'Hurricane may hit Jamaica today'. The report indicated that the storm was moving quite fast and meteorologists remained hopeful that it would stay its course and keep to the south of the island. Perhaps, they hoped, this would reduce its impact on the island. But at 8:30 that night, that hope blew away with the wind.

Tremendous force

In the dead of night, when most people were turning in to bed, Hurricane Charlie struck with tremendous and unexpected force. It made landfall on the eastern end of the island, and quickly crossed the entire country. The hurricane flattened houses, wrecked ships at port, destroyed the Palisadoes Airport instalment and the Victoria Pier. When a dormitory at the General Penitentiary collapsed under the force of the wind and rain, 76 convicts escaped. They, along with others desperate for food and water, would, in the ensuing days wreaked havoc on Kingston's business district with rampant looting.

Several roads were cut off and water and telegraph services were disrupted.

But of all parishes, Kingston, St. Thomas, St. Catherine, Clarendon and St. Andrew were the most severely affected. For the third time in its recorded history, Port Royal was completely destroyed. The hurricane left that area looking like an atom bomb had exploded. Overall, more than 12,000 people in the Corporate Area were left homeless. Ten thousand lost their homes in St. Thomas and another 3,000 elsewhere across the island.

In the days and weeks that followed, stories of death and destruction dominated the pages of The Gleaner and bewildered residents found it difficult to accept what had happened. The hurricane was the worst to hit the island in 70 years, so most residents had up to that point never experienced a hurricane with such force.

Heart-wrenching moments

The stories were heart-wrenching. Like that of the heroic father of three who, in a desperate attempt to save his youngest child from rising waters, lost the other two when the house he left them in collapsed, killing them instantly.

Elsewhere in the island, eight elderly residents confined to an infirmary were killed when the roof of their wards caved in.

Another story that had everybody talking was of the escaped convicts who ended up saving the lives of several persons trapped in a collapsed tenement. After being trapped under the rubble of the collapsed building, the rescued persons were obviously grateful to the escapees. But in only minutes, gratitude turned to anger, when the convicts held up and robbed them of all their valuables.

More of these kinds of stories popped up for months and it would take almost five years for the island to recover from the devastation. The psychological effect the disaster had on the nation, however, remains with residents even today, and on this the 55th anniversary of the storm, the haunting memories are all too vivid for those who survived the infamous Hurricane Charlie.