Hurricane Melissa leaves trail of destruction, kills dozens in Caribbean

( Yahoo )

Hurricane Melissa has left dozens dead and widespread destruction across Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba, as it continues to threaten the Bahamas and Bermuda.

The storm was bringing damaging winds, flooding rains and dangerous storm surge to the Bahamas on Wednesday night, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said, and residents should remain sheltered.

Melissa made landfall over eastern Cuba early Wednesday, near the city of Chivirico, as an "extremely dangerous" Category 3 storm, the hurricane center said. On Tuesday, it pummeled Jamaica as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph.

On Wednesday night, Melissa's core was about 105 miles east-northeast of the central Bahamas and about 800 miles southwest of Bermuda, according to the hurricane center. It had maximum sustained winds of 100 mph, making it a Category 2 storm, and was moving northeast at about 21 mph.

It was expected to continue moving over the southeast or central Bahamas Wednesday night and pass near Bermuda late Thursday, the hurricane center said.

Officials across the parts of the Caribbean already hit by Melissa were assessing the storm's impacts. At least 23 people have died in Haiti and 13 are missing, the country's Civil Protection Agency said in a statement. At least four deaths were reported in Jamaica, and one in the Dominican Republic.

Jamaica rushes to assess the damage

In Jamaica, more than 25,000 people were packed into shelters Wednesday and more streamed in throughout the day after the storm ripped roofs off their homes and left them temporarily homeless. Dana Morris Dixon, Jamaica's education minister, said 77% of the island was without power.

Outages complicated assessing the damage because of "a total communication blackout" in areas, Richard Thompson, acting director-general of Jamaica's Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, told the Nationwide News Network radio station.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in a statement that teams are working to rescue people and bring relief where it's needed the most.

"Recovery will take time, but the government is fully mobilized," he said. "Relief supplies are being prepared, and we are doing everything possible to restore normalcy quickly."

Officials in Black River, Jamaica, a coastal town of approximately 5,000 people in the southwestern part of the island, pleaded for aid at a news conference Wednesday.

"Catastrophic is a mild term based on what we are observing," Mayor Richard Solomon said.

Solomon said the local rescue infrastructure had been demolished by the storm. The hospital, police units and emergency services were inundated by floods and unable to conduct emergency operations. The storm also destroyed the facility where relief supplies were being stored.

In southwest Jamaica, David Muschette, 84, sat among the rubble of his roofless house. He said he lost everything as he pointed to his wet clothes and furniture strewn across the grass while part of his roof partially blocked the road.

"I need help," he begged.

The government said it hopes to reopen Jamaica's airports as early as Thursday to ensure quick distribution of emergency relief supplies.

The United States is sending rescue and response teams to assist in recovery efforts in the Caribbean, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a social media post. He said government officials were coordinating with leadership in Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.

"Our prayers are with the people of the Caribbean," he wrote.

St. Elizabeth Police Superintendent Coleridge Minto told Nationwide News Network on Wednesday that authorities have found at least four bodies in southwest Jamaica. One death was reported in the west when a tree fell on a baby, state minister Abka Fitz-Henley told Nationwide News Network.

Before landfall, Melissa had already been blamed for three deaths in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic.

Cuba rides out the storm

People in the eastern Cuban province of Santiago de Cuba began clearing debris around the collapsed walls of their homes on Wednesday after Melissa made landfall in the region hours earlier.

"Life is what matters," Alexis Ramos, a 54-year-old fisherman, said as he surveyed his destroyed home and shielded himself from the intermittent rain with a yellow raincoat. "Repairing this costs money, a lot of money."

Local media showed images of the Juan Bruno Zayas Clinical Hospital with severe damage: glass scattered across the floor, waiting rooms in ruins and masonry walls crumpled on the ground.

"It has been a very complex early morning," President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote on X. "As soon as conditions allow, we will begin the recovery. We are ready."

The hurricane could worsen Cuba's severe economic crisis, which has already led to prolonged power blackouts along with fuel and food shortages.

Cuba's National Institute of Hydraulic Resources reported accumulated rainfall of 15 inches in Charco Redondo and 14 inches in Las Villas Reservoir.

Moving toward the Bahamas

Melissa began affecting the southeastern Bahamas on Wednesday, Michael Brennan, director of the NHC, said. Authorities in the Bahamas were evacuating dozens of people from the archipelago's southeast corner ahead of Melissa's arrival.

"The storm is growing in size," Brennan said, noting that tropical storm-force winds now extend almost 200 miles from the center.

Melissa's center is forecast to move through the southeastern Bahamas later Wednesday, generating up to 7 feet of storm surge in the area. By late Thursday, Melissa is expected to pass just west of Bermuda.