Desperation in Black River, Jamaica, after Hurricane Melissa

People walk along muddy roads looking for food from the remains. Others jump into damaged stores in hopes of finding bottled water or other supplies.

As the death toll rises, residents of Black River are still searching for loved ones as they fight for survival, days after Hurricane Melissa made the Jamaican port city ground zero of the devastation seen in the Caribbean.

Residents here say they have been living in a state of chaos for the past three days since Melissa slammed into them as one of the most powerful Category 5 storms ever recorded in the region.

The ferocious winds and storms that swept through here destroyed almost everything, leaving the roads unusable and a trail of destruction that made them increasingly desperate and isolated without electricity or running water.

Overturned boats lie on the side of the curb. The brick buildings are divided into two. Giant sheets of metal are twisted between tree branches. Vehicles stand in broken pieces.

Residents who spoke to the BBC said they had so far seen no aid trucks in the area and described having to eat whatever food they could find on roadside debris in the coastal town, nearly 150 km (93 miles) west of Kingston.

Others made their way into battered supermarkets, taking what they could for themselves. Some, climbing atop a partially destroyed market, threw food and water bottles below, where people gathered with arms outstretched.

“We have to use everything we see here on the street and also in the supermarket,” explained Demar Walker, sitting in a shady spot down the street from the store to escape the heat and 80 percent humidity.

He said he and others had to go up to the market due to its roof collapsing and took what they could. They threw water and items to others also in need.

“We weren’t selfish, we had to throw food to other people,” he said.

Nearby, others told the BBC of a local pharmacy that had been robbed in Black River, describing anarchy as people ran in and out carrying armfuls of drugs and alcohol.

“I saw objects being taken out covered in mud,” Aldwayne Tomlinson told the BBC. “At first I thought the place was still open, but then I really took a second look.

“I heard a lady say, ‘I’ve got to go get some alcohol.’ Then I realized they were also looting the pharmacy,” he said.

Just down the road, a woman standing on a pile of debris described the situation there as “chaos, chaos. Total. No food. No water.”

“We don’t have access to money. We need help. Help has not come,” continues Chegun Braham.

A couple told the BBC they owned multiple shops in the area, several of which they said had been robbed. They are now standing guard outside one of their stores in hopes of preventing future thefts.

A short walk from the market, Jimmy Esson leaned against a massive metal beam that had been knocked to the ground.

“I lost everything, all my stuff,” he said. “We need food. We have no food.”

Survival is the main concern of most people here. The other is the rising death toll. Officials in Jamaica said Thursday that at least 19 people had died in the country, a big jump from the five counted the previous day. Another 30 died in neighboring Haiti because of the storm.

“My community, we have corpses out there,” Mr Walker said.

He said he, like many others in the area, has yet to hear from his family and doesn’t know if they made it out of the storm alive. Mr. Walker is stuck in Black River, sleeping in whoever’s house is still standing and will take him in, he says, while his eight-year-old son is in Westmoreland, the next parish.

Westmoreland shares the west coast of Jamaica with the Black River in the parish of St. Elizabeth, and was also seriously damaged by Melissa.

“There’s no way I can get to my family to find out if they’re okay,” he said as his eyes began to swell. Along with impassable roads making travel difficult, there is almost no cell phone service and no electricity or running water in many hard-hit areas.

“The entire town of Black River is devastated,” said the town’s mayor, Richard Solomon.

He noted to local media the desperation of residents who are looting, and while he didn’t condone it, he said he understood why it happened.

“It’s a delicate balance,” Mayor Solomon said of the response to it. “People are taking advantage of the opportunity to take what they can off the ground (from damaged stores). But there are others who are a bit more forceful when they try to get into people’s properties to get any supplies.”

Local authorities estimate that 90% of the houses here have been destroyed. Much of the town’s vital infrastructure was also destroyed, including the local hospital, police station and fire station.

“There are whole communities that seem left behind and areas that seem leveled,” Information Minister Dana Morris Dixon said.

Aid supplies are beginning to arrive more quickly at the main airport in Jamaica’s capital Kingston, but smaller regional airports, some of which are located near where humanitarian aid is most needed, remain only partially operational.

Aid agencies and the military are bringing urgently needed supplies from Kingston by land, but many roads remain impassable in places, including places like Black River.

The town is about a two-hour drive from Kingston, but the main road is – in various places – flooded, damaged and jammed with cars.

Michael Tarkerdeen, a local medic, was at the town’s fire station when the storm hit.

“We were upstairs, the whole downstairs was flooded. The water was about four feet and five feet. When the water came in, the seas came in, flooding everywhere,” Mr Tarkerdeen said.

“No one can be downstairs. Believe me, there were waves about that high,” he says, pointing over his shoulder.

People who managed to reach him from the flooded buildings nearby arrived in poor condition. They had “lacerations on their arms, their legs,” he says. “Children, elders, everyone.”

Mr Tharkurdee also found a man “lifeless” and “pulseless” after the flood waters receded.

“I’m not a doctor, I’m a paramedic, so I couldn’t pronounce him dead,” he said. “All we could do was document it and cover his body.

By mid-afternoon on Friday, a flotilla of military helicopters had flown into Black River – with many hoping they were bringing desperately needed supplies.

Officers armed with machine guns descended on the streets and soon the crowds searching the looted pharmacy and grocery store cleared. The line of cars blocking the only road in the area has been cleared.

Relative silence replaced the noise and chaos of hundreds of people fighting for their survival.

“St. Elizabeth, we want it to come back again,” Sean Morris said of the future of the area and his hopes of getting help here.

“It’s not about the money,” he said. “We need food and water.”