Drone captures images of Hurricane Melissa damage in Jamaica
Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as it crossed the Caribbean, destroying homes, flooding roads and cutting off communications.
On November 1, communities across the Caribbean continued to pick up the debris left behind by the devastating and deadly former Hurricane Melissa, which hit Jamaica in the strongest hurricane landfall in Atlantic history, causing devastating flooding on several islands in the region.
Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on October 28 as a Category 5 hurricane with winds of 185 mph. The hurricane was the most powerful to ever hit the island nation, causing damage from heavy rain and winds that left hundreds of thousands without power, destroyed homes and left fields littered with debris. It then made landfall in Cuba as a Category 3 storm, passing through the Bahamas and near Bermuda.
More than 50 deaths were reported from the storm in Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, including those in areas not directly affected by Melissa but experiencing severe flooding from the slow-moving storm. That number could rise further as authorities reach out to cut-off areas and confirm reports of deaths.
“Every life lost is a great tragedy,” Dana Morris-Dixon, Jamaica’s Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, said at a press conference on October 31. “We have never experienced a Category 5 hurricane in our country. The devastation in the West is unimaginable.”
The storm, which became a tropical storm on October 31, passed the coast of Canada’s Newfoundland island in the early morning hours of November 1, according to the Canada Weather Bureau.
Death toll from Hurricane Melissa rises to over 50
As of the morning of November 1, more than 50 deaths have been blamed on Melissa.
Jamaica’s Minister Dixon said on October 31 that 19 deaths had been confirmed in Jamaica, but that number was expected to rise as authorities confirmed additional death reports.
Although Haiti was not directly affected by Melissa, at least 31 people were killed as it caused massive flooding and days of heavy rain. At least 23 of those deaths, including 10 children, were caused by flooding in the coastal town of Petit Goave, where a river burst its banks.
At least two deaths were reported in the Dominican Republic, one of whom died before the storm made landfall, the Pan American Health Organization said.
Jamaica investigates Melissa tragedy: ‘apocalyptic’
On October 31, Jamaican authorities announced that they were using helicopters to reach areas where roads were impassable and delivering food and other aid to those affected by Melissa, as well as working to recover the bodies of additional people who were reported dead. Dixon said the state Department of Works has made some progress in clearing the thoroughfare.
Approximately 462,000 people remain without power.
Desmond McKenzie, the country’s Minister for Local Government and Regional Development, said communications were still cut off in five parishes as of October 31. “These are not very good numbers,” he said in Falmouth, the capital of the diocese of Trelawny on the northwest coast.
“City Hall was destroyed. The clinic was destroyed. The Road Works Department was destroyed. The courthouse was destroyed,” McKenzie said.
“The situation there is nothing short of apocalyptic,” World Food Program Caribbean Director Brian Bogart told a news conference in Jamaica’s Black River, near where Melissa landed. “It was like a bomb went off in that community and people are still in shock.”
Hospital destroyed in Jamaica, health care workers traumatized
Jamaican health officials said the country’s health system was severely affected by the storm. Jamaica’s Health Minister Christopher Tufton said five major hospitals were badly damaged, including St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, whose roof collapsed, forcing many services to be suspended or relocated.
Tufton said health care workers who worked during the hurricane’s passage have been isolated and, in some cases, cut off from their home communities.
“Healthcare workers are also victims of this tragedy,” he said. “Some of them had to staff guard posts without knowing what was happening to their homes and loved ones.”
Tufton said hospitals that weren’t as severely affected are seeing an influx of patients from areas where hospitals are no longer operational or severely restricted. While Jamaicans try to recover from the devastation and repair the damage, others are arriving at the emergency room with injuries from falling off roofs or ladders, or getting nails stuck in their feet.
“They’re really trying to pick up debris and that’s when accidents happen,” he said.
Mr Tufton also appealed for much-needed blood donations and warned that authorities are concerned about illnesses related to food contamination as people live without electricity or refrigeration. There are also concerns about water pollution and an increase in mosquitoes and rodents due to stagnant water.
Dana Voyles Pulver and Tano Nguyen TOD. Reuters
