Hurricane Melissa weighs on Minneapolis restaurateur from Jamaica
It was all smiles on Tomme Beevas's face as he served customers at Pimento Jamaican Kitchen in Minneapolis on Monday afternoon. But the major hurricane heading toward his family and friends in Jamaica is top of mind.
"We've been in communication on an almost hourly basis. Every hour there's an update, says Beevas. "But right now the update is, yeah, nothing's happening, right? And so later tonight is when everybody will be panicking, to be honest."
He says the magnitude of Hurricane Melissa is not lost on Jamaicans.
"A lot of the roofs are corrugated zinc roof. A lot of the walls and some houses are corrugated zinc wall. And so, with a Category Five like that, [it] could easily flatten those properties," says Beevas.
He says the government has been doing a good job alerting people and evacuating those necessary to the 181 shelters across Jamaica.
"They've been doing a good job stocking up on food, and we're just hoping that they have enough. And then the aftermath of the hurricane, with the flooding, with the devastation, we're hoping that they will have the resources for the immediate recovery as well as the long-term rebuilding," says Beevas.
And if they don't, he plans to help.
"One thing that we're doing with Pimento Jamaican Kitchen is we're collaborating with our partners at Jamaica Minnesota Organization, JMO, and OS DJ, the organization of a strategic development of Jamaica, to activate our Caribbean Disaster Relief Fund, to where folks can donate to Pimento.com. And then we will work with those partners to distribute the funds where needed," says Beevas.