Hurricane Melissa’s Devastating, Deadly Devastation Leaves Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba Reeling

People across the Northern Caribbean were digging out of the doom of the Hurricane Melissa On Thursday as the death toll of a catastrophic storm rose and made it move over the Bahamas.

The roar of heavy machinery, the screeching of chainsaws and machetes were kept all over the first jamaica as government workers and residents began to clear the push roads to reach isolated communities that kept direct cover from one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record.
Suspended residents wandered around, some staring at their homes with no passes and watery belongings staring at them.

Emergency aid flights began arriving at Jamaica’s main airport, which reopened late Wednesday, as teams distributed water, food and other basic supplies.

“The devastation is immense,” said Jamaican Transport Minister Daryl Vaz.

Some Jamaicans wonder where they will live.

“Now I’m homeless, but I have to hope because I’m healthy,” said Sheryl Smith, who lost the roof of her home.

Authorities say they have found at least four bodies in southwest Jamaica.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness said up to 90% of the roofs in the community on the south west coast of the Black River were destroyed.

“The black river is what you would describe as ground zero,” he said. “People continue to come up with destruction.”

More than 25,000 people were crammed into shelters across the western half of Jamaica, with 77% of the island without power.

Haiti Hard Hit

Melissa also revealed the catastrophic floods in Haiti, where at least 23 people were reported and several others missing, especially in the Southern province of the country.

Haiti’s Faturct agency said Hurricane Melissa killed at least 20 people in Petit-Goâve, including 10 children. More than 160 homes were damaged and another 80 were destroyed.

Authorities warned that 152 disabled people in the southern region of Haiti are in need of emergency food aid. More than 11,600 people remain sheltered in Haiti due to the storm.

It begins to clean up Cuba

In Cuba, people began clearing blocked roads and highways with heavy machinery and even enlisted the help of the military, increasing the number of people stuck in isolated communities and at risk of consolidating.

No casualties were reported after the Civil Defense evacuated more than 735,000 people across Eastern Cuba. They walked slowly as they started to return home.

“We’re cleaning the streets, we’re cleaning the path,” said Yaima Almenares, a physical education teacher from the city of Santiago, as she and other neighbors pulled branches and tree trunks, cutting off the trunks of fallen roads.

In many rural countries outside the city of Santiago de Cuba, water remained in vulnerable homes on Wednesday night as residents returned from their storage areas to save beds, mattresses, chairs, and raise them before the storm.

The TeleVIDE OPEN DEFENSE meeting proposed by President Miguel Díaz-Canel did not provide an official estimate of the damage. However, officials from the affected provinces – Santiago, Granma, Holguín, Guantánamo, and Las Tunas – reported roads, separated roads and the loss of banana forests, cassava and coffee.

Authorities said the rain was beneficial to storage areas and eased severe drought in eastern Cuba.

Many communities were without electricity, Internet and phone service due to planned transformers and power lines.

When Melissa came ashore in Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane with maximum winds of 185 MPH on Tuesday, she tied Atlantic hurricane rights records for wind speed and barometric pressure. It was still a category 3 storm when it made landfall over eastern Cuba on Wednesday.

Melissa is not done yet

A hurricane warning went into effect early Thursday morning for the southeastern Bahamas and Bermuda, and a tropical storm warning was issued for the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Heavy rains and strong winds were battering the Central and Southeastern Bahamas early Thursday, according to the US National Weather Service in Miami.

Melissa was a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds near 100 mph and moving northeast at 21 mph, the center said.

Melissa’s core was about 145 kilometers northeast of the central Bahamas and about 755 kilometers southwest of Bermuda, the NHC said.

The storm was forecast to pass over or west of Bermuda late Thursday and could strengthen again before weakening on Friday.