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02-11-2025
KINGSTON: At least 19 people have died in Jamaica as a result of Hurricane Melissa, Information Minister Dana Morris Dixon says, as search and rescue efforts continue and authorities try to get aid to hard-hit areas.
The hurricane, one of the most powerful to strike the Caribbean, also killed at least 30 people in Haiti, officials say.
In Jamaica, “there are entire communities that seem to be marooned and areas that seem to be flattened”, Dixon said, with “devastating” scenes in western regions.
Electricity remains out to most of the island and as people try to salvage damaged homes and belongings from flood water and mud, many thousands are growing increasingly desperate for aid.
Parts of the country have been without water for several days and food is growing increasingly scarce. Aid supplies are starting to arrive more rapidly with the main airport in the Jamaican capital, Kingston, largely back to normal, but smaller regional airports, some of which are located near to where humanitarian assistance is most needed, remain only partly operational.
Aid agencies and the military are bringing in the urgently needed supplies from Kingston by land but many roads remain unpassable in places.
A journey from Mandeville, in the centre of the country, to Black River, normally an hour, is taking eight hours because the roads are so torn up.
Army vehicles and relief convoys are struggling to get past fallen trees and poles, leaving many who live in western areas very much without the aid they need.
Satellite imagery shows nearly all buildings in some Jamaican villages have been destroyed by the hurricane.
Residents of towns in western Jamaica told media on Thursday that “words can’t explain how devastating” the storm has been for the country.
“No-one is able to get through to their loved ones,” Trevor ‘Zyanigh’ Whyte told media from the town of White House in Westmoreland parish.
“Everyone is just, you know, completely disconnected… Every tree is on the road, right, so you can’t get too far with the cars, not even a bicycle,” he said.
On the drive from Kingston to Falmouth towards Montego Bay, the scene worsens. Walking around, there are buildings with half a roof and people drying their mattresses by the sides of the road.
People are struggling to get their lives back together and trying to clear the streets, as the power company is trying to get poles moved.
Jamaica, a very green and mountainous country, has been stripped, leaving what looks like twigs and matchsticks.
In Haiti, many of the victims in the storm died when a river overflowed in Petit-Goave. A full assessment is ongoing, as there are still areas that authorities have not been able to access.
Around 15,000 people were staying in more than 120 shelters in Haiti, interim UN coordinator for the country Gregoire Goodstein said.
In Cuba, more than 3 million people were “exposed to life-threatening conditions” during the hurricane, with 735,000 people “safely evacuated”, according to the UN’s resident coordinator for Cuba Francisco Pichon.
No fatalities have been reported so far in Cuba, but almost 240 communities have been cut off due to flooding and landslides, Cuban authorities said.
Hurricane Melissa made landfall on Tuesday in Jamaica as a category five storm, packing winds of up to 185 mph (295 km/h), before impacting other countries in the Caribbean.
Governments, humanitarian organizations and individuals around the world are pledging support for the nations hardest hit by the storm. (Int’l News Desk)
