People walk along muddied roads scavenging the wreckage for food. Others jump into damaged stores in the hope of finding bottled water or other supplies.
As the death toll rises, residents of Black River are still searching for loved ones while they also battle to survive, days after Hurricane Melissa made this Jamaican port city ground zero of the devastation seen across the Caribbean.
Residents here say they have been living in a state of chaos the last three days since Melissa slammed into them as one of the most powerful category five storms ever recorded in the region.
The fierce winds and storm surge that barrelled through here have decimated nearly everything, leaving roads unusable and a trail of destruction that has them increasingly desperate and isolated with no electricity or running water.
Capsized boats lie kerbside. Brick buildings are split in half. Giant sheets of metal are twisted between tree branches. Vehicles sit in crumbled pieces.
Residents who spoke to the BBC said they have seen no aid trucks in the area so far and described having to eat what food they can find in debris by the roads in the coastal town, nearly 150km (93 miles) west of the capital, Kingston.
Others made their way inside battered supermarkets, taking what they could for themselves. Some, who climbed on top of one partially destroyed market, tossed food and bottles of water down below, where people gathered with arms outstretched.
