Hurricane Melissa Clean Up Effort
Hurricane Melissa formed on October 21, 2025, and underwent rapid intensification to become a Category 5 storm. It made landfall in Jamaica on October 28 at peak intensity—marking the strongest hurricane on record to impact the island. The human and economic toll has been severe: dozens of lives lost, hundreds of thousands of people displaced, and damage in Jamaica alone estimated at over US $6 billion—roughly 30 % of the country’s GDP. The Hartland Estate HOA (HEHOA) has been working diligently in its effort to remove debris from the storm in its devotion to maintain a clean and safe community.
NOTICE: Hartland Estate Waste Management Removal due to Hurricane Melissa + Associated Expenses
The HOA wanted to provide you with an update on the extraordinary waste-management removal, as well as expenses our community has incurred in the wake of the recent hurricane, Melissa. Keeping you informed and confident in how the costs are being handled is a priority for us.
✅ What’s happened
As a result of the hurricane (Melissa), our solid-waste and debris-removal services have faced significantly increased volumes of materials — including tree limbs, leaves and other debris-waste.
Normal collection infrastructure and budgets were built for typical volumes; the hurricane has pushed us well beyond that. Disaster debris management involves large scale logistics, transportation, and disposal, which can multiply costs.
Many of the increased costs are unavoidable: for example, removal of large amounts of material, contracting extra equipment, extended service hours.
📊 What it means for our community
Our annual waste-management budget did not anticipate this magnitude of debris removal and associated service escalation.
To maintain performance (timely pickups, safe operations) we are facing a budget shortfall relative to the scale of the work.
Additional funding sources may be required—either by re-allocating from pre-payment, adjusting future budgets, or through a special assessment/levy.
🔍 What we’re doing
The HOA is tracking all incremental costs related to the storm-debris cleanup separately from regular operations, to maintain clarity.
The HOA is reviewing the waste-management contract (or services) to ensure that future storm-debris events are better anticipated in planning and budget forecasting.
📅 What you should know as a resident
Please continue to follow the debris-segregation and set-out instructions provided by the HOA until curb side (door to door) is implemented on November 22, 2025 (for example: vegetative debris in one pile, household waste in another). Proper separation helps reduce costs and speeds up removal.
Expect that future service fees or assessments may reflect this increased cost burden. The HOA will provide a detailed breakdown regarding how this will impact budgets.
📝 Summary
In short: the hurricane has caused a large spike in waste-management and debris-removal costs. The HOA is taking steps to manage and track the costs responsibly, and will be transparent about how that may affect future fees or assessments. The HOA appreciates your patience, cooperation and understanding as we work through this together.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
Hartland Estate, HOA.
