Caribbean islands reel from Hurricane Melissa’s devastating impact as storm heads north

By Sophie Tanno, CNN

(CNN) — Rescue efforts are underway across the Caribbean after Hurricane Melissa tore through the region as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in more than 150 years.

Torrential downpours and forceful winds have already unleashed widespread destruction along the storm’s path in Jamaica, Cuba and the Bahamas.

Melissa is now headed for Bermuda as a Category 2 storm, where it won’t make landfall but will bring quick-hitting bursts of strong winds and rain as soon as late Thursday afternoon.

The storm has damaged homes, caused severe flooding and left widespread power outages in its wake, and forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands.

Emergency officials have begun to pick up the pieces, clearing roads to reach isolated communities in need of relief, as several international efforts have also been launched.

At least 30 people are known to have died, though the full toll of the catastrophic storm may take days or weeks to be determined.

The United Kingdom said it is making £2.5 million ($3.36 million) in emergency humanitarian funding available to assist the Caribbean region’s recovery process. The United States and China have also mobilized support.

Jamaica hardest hit

The island of Jamaica took the heaviest battering, with Hurricane Melissa making landfall there on Tuesday at its strongest – as a Category 5 storm – and estimated maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph).

Authorities have yet to reach the worst-affected areas. So far, four bodies have been found in St. Elizabeth Parish in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, a source in the government told CNN on Wednesday.

Three people also died during storm preparations, but the government has not provided a death toll since the hurricane battered the island on Tuesday.

Around 25,000 tourists remained in Jamaica as the country emerged from the storm, Dana Morris Dixon, minister of education, skills, youth and information said in a statement.

Around 140,000 people were cut off as the storm pummeled the island, the government said.

Overall, the country’s infrastructure has taken a battering, leaving it “severely compromised,” according to Desmond McKenzie, Jamaica’s minister of local government and community development.

A CNN crew observed residents and military personnel push more than a dozen ambulances past storm debris in the town of Santa Cruz as the medical convoy headed to a coastal area in western Jamaica, which was hit hard.

‘Extensive damage’ in Cuba

Cuba was also hit hard after the hurricane made landfall there as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday. The country sustained “extensive damage,” according to Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

This included flooding, mudslides, property destruction, and infrastructure damage, particularly in Cuba’s eastern regions, where hundreds of rural communities were left isolated. In the province of Santiago, at least 241 communities were cut off due to the storm, Reuters reported.

More than 735,000 people were evacuated in Cuba as Melissa approached.

High death toll in Haiti

Meanwhile, the highest death toll so far has been reported in Haiti, where the hurricane did not make direct landfall but caused significant damage and at least 23 deaths due to severe flooding and landslides. Twenty of these deaths, including 10 children, were due to flooding in Petit-Goâve, where a flooded river burst its banks.

Steven Guadard, who lives in Petit-Goâve, told the Associated Press the storm killed his entire family.

“I had four children at home: a 1-month-old baby, a 7-year-old, an 8-year-old and another who was about to turn 4,” he said.

CNN’s Mitchell McCluskey, Briana Waxman and Karina Tsui contributed to this report.

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