Jamaica\u2019s military calls on reserve personnel to report for duty to help with relief and rescue operations
\n Jamaica
\nHurricane Melissa\u2019s confirmed death toll climbed to 49 on Thursday, according to official reports, after wreaking destruction across much of the northern Caribbean and picking up speed as it headed past Bermuda in the North Atlantic.
\nAuthorities in Haiti, which was not directly hit but nevertheless suffered days of torrential rains from the slow-moving storm, reported at least 30 deaths and 20 more missing.
\nAt least 23 people, including 10 children, died in Haiti\u2019s southern town of Petit-Goave when a river burst its banks. Roads, houses and farmlands were also damaged by the rains.
\nJamaica\u2019s information minister confirmed at least 19 deaths, but said authorities were continuing search and rescue efforts. The storm left hundreds of thousands without power, ripped roofs of buildings and scattered fields with rubble.
\nJamaica\u2019s military has called on reserve personnel to report for duty to help with relief and rescue operations.
\nMelissa made landfall in southwestern Jamaica on Tuesday as a powerful Category 5 hurricane, the Caribbean nation\u2019s strongest-ever storm to directly hit its shores, and the first major hurricane to do so since 1988.
\nWindspeeds were well above the minimum level for the strongest hurricane classification. Forecasters at AccuWeather said it tied in second place for strongest-ever Atlantic hurricane on record in terms of windspeed when in struck land.
\nThe forecaster estimated $48 billion to $52 billion in damage and economic loss across the western Caribbean.
\nMelissa also hit eastern Cuba, where some 735,000 evacuated, but as of Thursday, no deaths were reported there, despite extensive damage to homes and crops.
\nAt 11:00pm (0300 GMT), Melissa was a Category 2 storm 264 km (164 miles) west of the North Atlantic British island territory of Bermuda, according to the US National Hurricane Center, packing maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (161 kph).
\nResidents in Bermuda had remained calm as the storm was expected to give the island a relatively wide berth. Authorities said they would close its causeway Thursday night and shut schools and ferries on Friday \u201cout of an abundance of caution.\u201d
\nIn the Bahamas, which Melissa cut through Wednesday night, authorities lifted storm warnings but did not give the \u201call clear\u201d. An official said authorities expected to decide by Saturday whether it was safe for the hundreds of people who evacuated off affected islands to return to their homes.
\nWading barefoot through mud
\nThe front page of Thursday\u2019s Jamaica Observer newspaper read: \u201cDEVASTATION.\u201d
\nDensely populated Kingston was spared the worst damage. Its main airport was set to reopen on Thursday, as was the capital\u2019s port. Relief flights and aid had begun to flow into Jamaica\u2019s airports, authorities said.
\nBut across the country, more than 130 roads remained blocked by trees, debris and electric lines, authorities said, forcing the military to clear roadways on foot into isolated areas, with ambulances following close behind.
\nSatellite imagery showed swaths of trees and homes devastated in the hardest-hit areas of Jamaica, sparse remaining greenery defoliated and most structures destroyed.
\nIn a neighbourhood of the island\u2019s Montego Bay, 77-year-old Alfred Hines waded barefoot through thick mud and debris as he described his narrow escape from the rising floodwaters.
\n\u201cAt one stage, I see the water at my waist and (after) about 10 minutes time, I see it around my neck here and I make my escape,\u201d he told Reuters on Wednesday.
\n\u201cI just want to forget it and things come back to normal.\u201d
\nIn western parts of the island, people crowded by supermarkets and gas stations to fill up on supplies.
\n\u201cMontego Bay hasn\u2019t got any petrol. Most of the petrol stations are down,\u201d British tourist Chevelle Fitzgerald told Reuters, adding it took her at least six hours to cross the 174 km (108 miles) to Jamaica\u2019s capital.
\n\u201cThe highway was closed. You had some blockage on the road and trees falling down,\u201d she said.
\nOver 70% of electrical customers in Jamaica remained without power as of Thursday morning, said Energy Minister Daryl Vaz, with power lines felled across the island\u2019s roadways.
\nMany schools remained without power or water, officials in the capital Kingston said.
\nImmediate humanitarian aid
\nScientists say hurricanes are intensifying faster with greater frequency as a result of warming ocean waters caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Many Caribbean leaders have called on wealthy, heavy-polluting nations to provide reparations in the form of aid or debt relief.
\nDespite the UN setting up a fund for developing nations to quickly access reliable financing for more extreme weather events in 2023, donations have not met targets.
\nUS forecaster AccuWeather said Melissa was the third most-intense hurricane observed in the Caribbean, as well as its slowest-moving, compounding damages for affected areas.
\nUS search and rescue teams were headed for Jamaica on Thursday to assist in recovery efforts, Jamaican authorities said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was prepared to offer \u201cimmediate humanitarian aid\u201d to the people of Cuba, a long-time US foe.
\nAuthorities in Cuba \u2014 which Melissa struck in the night as a Category 3 storm \u2014 said they were \u201cawaiting clarification on how and in what way they are willing to assist.\u201d
\nAt least 241 Cuban communities remained isolated and without communications on Wednesday following the storm\u2019s passage across Santiago province, according to preliminary media reports, affecting as many as 140,000 residents.
\nResidents of Santiago, Cuba\u2019s second-largest city, began returning to repair their homes. Authorities had evacuated 735,000 people to shelters outside the hurricane\u2019s cone and relocated tourists in northern cays to inland hotels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jamaica\u2019s military calls on reserve personnel to report for duty to help with relief and rescue operations Jamaica Hurricane Melissa\u2019s confirmed death toll climbed to 49 on Thursday, according to official reports, after wreaking destruction across much of the northern Caribbean and picking up speed as it headed past Bermuda in the North Atlantic. Authorities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511952,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-511938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n