Hurricane Melissa: 'I just want to know they're alive'

Mr Ottey's mother, Beverly, lives in Sand Bay, Jamaica

"It's a strange kind of silence...it's the kind that fills you with questions."

Hezron Ottey, from Shropshire, has not heard from his mother and siblings who live in Sandy Bay on the north-western side of Jamaica, since Hurricane Melissa hit.

The hurricane, one of the most powerful to strike the Caribbean, has caused dozens of fatalities in the country and Haiti, and has knocked out electricity across much of the island, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.

"You can't imagine what they might be doing, whether they have things as simple as drinking water, what's happened to the house, the shelter, whether or not, more importantly, their lives have been spared," he told the BBC.

"Infrastructure can be rebuilt, but you just want to know that they're breathing and that they made it through. Faith is what anchors me right now."

Flooding after Hurricane Melissa made landfall in St Elizabeth on 29 October

Mr Ottey from Wellington in Telford said he was "endlessly" picking up the phone to try and contact them.

"You know there's no power supply, you know the mobile network is down...you're just hanging on to some glimmer of hope and you're trying to keep abreast with updates from the government and how relief efforts are going."

"It is a consistent effort to try and make some contact, some connection, to get confirmation that they're safe.

"Just to hear their voices, just to know they're alive, that's priority."

Mr Ottey said he felt his life was on hold. He and his family are close-knit, and had already been having a tough year following the death of his father in June.

"We're still going through that loss and grief," he said.

"Disasters like this remind us that compassion travels faster than any storm...we've weathered storms over the years, but this has taken it to a level that is unimaginable and almost unbearable when you think about it."