After Beryl damages his home in Jamaica, a farm worker struggles with storm damage in Vermont

BARNET — On Tuesday, Melvin Blackwood, who goes by his nickname, Ranaldo, looked at rows of mud-strewn crops at Joe’s Brook Farm, where they had grown organic vegetables a week earlier.

When the remnants of Hurricane Beryl hit Vermont on July 11, the storm destroyed nearly all of the farm’s crops. Owners Eric and Mary Skovsted consider the damage a total loss.

Beryl has now hit Blackwood twice. On July 3, the eye of the storm, which at the time was a Category 4 hurricane, struck Jamaica’s southern border, causing major damage in St. Elizabeth, the parish where he lives.

It was one of the strongest storms Jamaica had ever seen, according to the BBC, and the earliest storm to become a Category 5 on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records. The wind tore off half the roof of Blackwood’s home and left extensive water damage. Since then, he has been coordinating the restoration work from afar.

Blackwood’s son Delvin works with him at Joe’s Brook Farm, but his wife Curine and daughters still live in the damaged house. Blackwood said his friends helped make temporary fixes to make it livable.

Asked how he felt when he learned the same storm that destroyed his house in Jamaica was headed for Vermont, Blackwood laughed softly. He said he remembers thinking, “Oh boy. There are two troubles with me now. It’s a failure.”

Going home was not an option, Blackwood said.

“I talked to him about whether or not he wanted to go home early. That was before we got hit,” said Mary Skovsted. “He said he really needed his salary to buy materials to make repairs.”

Looking out at the farm field, Blackwood listed the vegetables that could no longer grow: “I don’t have peppers, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, garlic,” he said. “Everything was gone. We’re just trying to clean up now.”

Blackwood, his son and their friend, Godfrey Vernon, have been coming to Vermont from Jamaica for years through the H2A program, which helps fill employment gaps in the United States by giving workers from other countries a special visa for seasonal agricultural work.

“They have been coming to Vermont for many years and are really experienced farmers,” Mary said. “We’ve come to really know and enjoy them and rely on their expertise.”

The storm also damaged Vernon’s farm at home, where he grows yams, bananas and plantains. All three men usually leave in November at the end of the harvest season, but will likely leave early this year.

A GoFundMe for Joe’s Brook Farm has raised more than $77,000, far exceeding its fundraising goal of $50,000. With that money, the Skovsteds said they plan to keep their employees at least through August.

“Normally it would stay longer, but we don’t have any crops to harvest,” Mary said. Employees are mostly working to clean up the mess created by the flood and prepare the land for next year.

“Actually, we don’t have much to do other than that,” she said.

Blackwood, who has worked at Joe’s Brook Farm every summer since 2021, has raised $1,740 through donation jars at the farm stand and farmers markets, Eric Skovsted said, and the farm has matched $1,000 of those donations.

Blackwood said those donations will help, but going home early could still put him in a difficult position because of lost wages.

“It can feel miserable at times,” he said, referring to the storm’s dual impact. “But I said, there’s nothing you can do about it.”