The updates sent by friends and neighbors on WhatsApp confirmed what fisher Prince Davis already feared: Hurricane Melissa put a hole in the stern of his 50-foot fishing boat, and damaged the cabin and back deck.

His father’s boat was nowhere to be found. The roof of the house Davis and his parents shared in the small Jamaican fishing community of White House in Westmoreland parish was also destroyed.

Davis was in Nicaragua, where he’d flown shortly before the storm to find new customers for his fish business. But now his livelihood, and the livelihoods of many in his community, were in peril.

“It’s going to be very rough” said Davis. “With the damage now, no one will be buying products.”

About 17 miles northwest in Amity, also in Westmoreland parish, Denver Thorpe lost 15 acres of mango trees and two greenhouses on his farm.

“There’s absolutely nothing,” said Thorpe, a farmer and regional manager for the Jamaica Agricultural Society, a farmer advocacy organization.

Hurricane Melissa is blamed for at least 28 deaths in Jamaica, bringing catastrophic winds up to 185 mph and storm surge that wrecked homes and public infrastructure.

While official damage assessments are still underway, experts said it’s already clear that one of the strongest landfalling Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded also dealt a devastating blow to tens of thousands of Jamaican fishers and farmers who feed their families and nearby communities.

Similar impacts will be felt by some of Cuba and Haiti’s small producers, said Lola Castro, World Food Program regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

“I would say every (crop) that was on the path has been damaged, there’s no discussion on that,” said Castro. “Some of the fruit trees may be recovered, some of the temporary crops will not be recovered at all.”

The destruction will impact how residents earn income and feed their families at a time when they must also rebuild homes and communities.