Hurricane Melissa Wreaks Havoc Across Northern Caribbean

Add TNIE As A Trusted Source Hurricane Melissa has left a trail of destruction across the northern Caribbean, resulting in confirmed deaths in Jamaica and catastrophic flooding in Haiti, while Cuba begins its slow recovery. The Category 5 storm, which made landfall in Jamaica, is now heading towards Bermuda. 19 Confirmed Deaths and Search for Survivors At least 19 people in Jamaica have died as a result of Hurricane Melissa, which devastated the island nation when it roared ashore this week, a government minister toldAFPlate Thursday. "The confirmed death toll from Hurricane Melissa is now at 19," including nine in the far west parish of Westmoreland, Information Minister Dana Morris Dixon told local news outlets. In Jamaica, government workers and residents began clearing roads in a push to reach dozens of isolated communities in the island's southeast that sustained a direct hit from one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record. Stunned residents wandered about, some staring at their roofless homes and waterlogged belongings strewn around them. "I don’t have a house now,” said Sylvester Guthrie, a resident of Lacovia in the southern parish of St. Elizabeth, as he held onto his bicycle, the only possession of value left after the storm. Emergency relief flights were landing at Jamaica’s main international airport as crews distributed water, medicine, and other basic supplies. Helicopters dropped food as they thrummed above communities where the storm flattened homes, wiped out roads, and destroyed bridges, cutting them off from assistance. “The entire Jamaica is really broken because of what has happened,” Education Minister Dana Morris Dixon said. Officials said at least 19 people have died in Jamaica, including a child, and they expected the death toll to keep rising. In one isolated community, residents pleaded with officials to remove the body of one victim tangled in a tree. On Thursday, dozens of U.S. search-and-rescue experts landed in Jamaica along with their dogs. More than 13,000 people remained crowded into shelters, with 72% of the island without power and only 35% of mobile phone sites in operation, officials said. People clutched cash as they formed long lines at the few gas stations and supermarkets open in affected areas. “We understand the frustration, we understand your anxiety, but we ask for your patience,” said Daryl Vaz, Jamaica's telecommunications and energy minister. Water trucks have been mobilized to serve many of Jamaica’s rural communities that are not connected to the government’s utility system, Water Minister Matthew Samuda said.