Death toll from Hurricane Melissa rises to 44

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On Thursday, Hurricane Melissa – the most powerful storm of the year – reached 44, according to official data.

The hurricane left a path of destruction in the northern Caribbean and gained strength as it moved towards Bermuda.

Jamaica’s information minister told Reuters that at least 19 deaths had been confirmed, but authorities were continuing search and rescue efforts. The storm left hundreds of thousands of people without power, ripped roofs off buildings and littered fields with debris.

The Jamaican Army has called on reserve personnel to report for duty to assist in relief and relief operations.

Melissa made landfall in southwestern Jamaica on Tuesday as a powerful Category 5 hurricane, the Caribbean nation’s strongest storm to make direct landfall on its shores, and the first major hurricane to do so since 1988.

Wind speeds were well above the minimum level for a strong hurricane classification. Ecoweather forecasters said it was the second strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded in terms of wind speed when it made landfall.

Forecasters estimate damage and economic losses in the Western Caribbean at $48 billion to $52 billion.

Authorities in Haiti, which was not directly hit but still faced rain throughout the day from the slow-moving storm, reported at least 25 deaths, mostly in the southern town of Petit Gio when a river burst its banks.

A river also took over and became part of a national highway, local newspaper Le Novelist reported. The road, which was weakened by last year’s Hurricane Brill, connects to the nearby town of Jacmel.

Melissa also hit eastern Cuba, where about 735,000 people were evacuated as of Thursday despite widespread damage to homes and crops, but as of Thursday, no deaths were reported there.

At 8 PM (0000 GMT), Melissa was a Category 1 storm 409 km (254 mi) southwest of the North Atlantic British Isles region, where overnight hurricane conditions were also expected northwest of Melissa’s eye.

Melissa was packing maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (169 km/h).

Residents in Bermuda, however, remained calm as the storm was expected to make a relatively wide swath across the island. Officials said they would close its causeway on Thursday night and close schools and piers on Friday “out of an abundance of caution.”

In the Bahamas, which Melissa made landfall on Wednesday night, officials ended storm warnings but did not give the “all clear.” Officials are expected to decide by Saturday whether the affected islands are safe for hundreds of people to return to their homes, an official said.

wading through the mud barefoot

The front page of Thursday’s Jamaica Observer newspaper read: “Devastation.”

Densely populated Kingston suffered the worst. Its main airport was due to reopen on Thursday, as was the capital’s port. Officials said relief flights and aid had begun arriving at American airports.

Across the country, more than 130 roads were blocked by trees, debris and power lines, officials said, forcing the army to move roadways to isolated areas, with ambulances nearby.

Satellite imagery showed the destruction of trees and houses in the hardest-hit areas of Jamaica, wiping out what little remaining greenery there was and destroying most structures.

In a neighborhood on the island’s Montego Bay, Alfred Hines, 77, waded barefoot through thick mud and debris as he described his narrow escape from rising floodwaters.

“At one stage, I see water on my back and (after) about 10 minutes, I see it here at my throat and I run away,” he told Reuters on Wednesday.

“I just want to forget about it and things go back to normal.”

In the western parts of the island, people flocked to supermarkets and gas stations to replenish supplies.

“Montego Bay has got no petrol. Most of the petrol stations are low,” British tourist Chevel Fitzgerald told Reuters.

“The highway was closed. You had some obstructions on the road and trees were falling,” he said.

As of Thursday morning, more than 70 percent of Jamaica’s electricity customers were without power, Energy Minister Darryl Vaz said as he ran power lines across the island’s roadways.

Officials in the capital Kingston said many schools remained without power or water.

Immediate humanitarian assistance

Scientists say that hurricanes are intensifying with greater frequency as a result of ocean waters rising due to greenhouse gas emissions. Many Caribbean leaders have called on wealthy, heavily polluting countries to provide money in the form of aid or debt relief.

Despite the UN establishing a fund for developing countries to access reliable financing for more extreme weather events in 2023, donations do not meet targets.

U.S. forecaster EcoWeather said Melissa was the third most intense hurricane to be observed in the Caribbean, as well as its slowest-moving, complex damage to affected areas.

US search and rescue teams were headed to Jamaica on Thursday to help with recovery efforts, Jamaican officials said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was ready to offer “immediate humanitarian assistance” to the people of Cuba, a longtime US enemy.

Officials in Cuba – which was hit by Melissa overnight as a Category 3 storm – said they were “awaiting clarification on what and how they are prepared to help.”

According to initial media reports, at least 241 Cuban communities remained isolated and without communication on Wednesday after the storm passed through Santiago province.

Residents of Santiago, Cuba’s second largest city, began returning to repair their homes. Authorities evacuated 735,000 people to shelters outside the hurricane cone and moved tourists to inland hotels in the Northern Keys.