Nearly 50 dead as Hurricane Melissa devastates Caribbean

The death toll from Hurricane Melissa has climbed to nearly 50, officials said Thursday, after the powerful storm tore through several Caribbean islands and moved toward Bermuda, reports AFP.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that while flooding was starting to recede in the Bahamas, high water levels were expected to persist in Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The storm, among the strongest ever recorded, was made four times more likely due to human-induced climate change, according to a study by Imperial College London.

By late Thursday, tropical storm conditions had reached Bermuda, which remained under a hurricane warning as Melissa packed maximum sustained winds of 100 miles (155 kilometers) per hour.

Authorities urged residents to take precautions as the storm continued its destructive path.

Melissa had earlier struck Jamaica and Cuba with tremendous force, leaving widespread destruction. Jamaican Information Minister Dana Morris Dixon confirmed 19 deaths, mostly in the parishes of Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth, while communication and transport links across Jamaica and Cuba remained largely disrupted.

In Haiti, officials reported 30 deaths, 20 injuries and 20 missing persons, with more than 1,000 homes flooded and 16,000 people sheltering in emergency centers.

In eastern Cuba, already facing its worst economic crisis in decades, residents struggled through flooded streets and collapsed homes.

“Melissa killed us, because it left us destroyed,” said Felicia Correa from La Trampa near El Cobre. “We were already going through tremendous hardship. Now we are much worse off.” Cuban authorities said around 735,000 people had been evacuated, mainly from Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, and Guantanamo provinces.

International aid efforts were underway. The United States deployed disaster response and rescue teams to the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the Bahamas, with more on the way to Haiti.

Washington also said it was ready to provide humanitarian aid to Cuba. The UK pledged £2.5 million (about $3.3 million) in emergency funding and arranged limited evacuation flights for British nationals.

In Jamaica, UN Resident Coordinator Dennis Zulu described “tremendous, unprecedented devastation of infrastructure, property, roads, and connectivity,” noting that access to several hard-hit regions was still restricted.

Hurricane Melissa matched the intensity of the 1935 record storm when it made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday, according to US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

In Seaford Town, farmer and businessman Christopher Hacker said his restaurant and banana plantations were completely destroyed. “Everything is gone,” he told AFP.

“This storm is a brutal reminder of the urgent need for stronger global climate action,” said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell.