SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (AP) — Hurricane Melissa left dozens dead and widespread destruction across Cuba, Jamaica and Haiti on Wednesday, knocking out power and forcing residents from their homes in inundated towns.
Melissa made landfall Tuesday in Jamaica as a catastrophic Category 5 storm with top winds of 185 mph (295 kph), one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, before moving on to Cuba. But even countries outside the direct path of the massive storm, like Haiti and the Dominican Republic, felt its devastating impact.
Hurricane Melissa has left at least 32 dead in the Caribbean: eight in Jamaica, one in the Dominican Republican and 23 in Haiti, a lower total from an earlier count of 40. The number of reported deaths in Haiti often fluctuates early on following major natural disasters.
Authorities said Wednesday about 735,000 people remained in shelters in eastern Cuba, where the storm made landfall as a Category 3.
Melissa, now downgraded to a Category 2 but growing in size, has begun affecting the southeastern Bahamas as of Wednesday afternoon.
As its center moves through the region later in the day, it’s expected to generate up to 7 feet (2 meters) of storm surge in the area. By late Thursday, Melissa is expected to pass just west of Bermuda.
Here’s the latest:
US sending several dozen disaster relief workers and urban rescue teams to Caribbean
Disaster Assistance Response Team personnel from across the country are currently on their way to Jamaica, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic, where they will also attend to issues in neighboring Haiti, according to three State Department officials. They are expected to arrive in the next 24-48 hours.
The officials, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity because the teams are not yet on the ground, said anticipated needs include temporary housing, food and hygiene kits.
They said the U.S. military could play a role in transporting personnel and supplies to remote areas needing help but that a decision on the scale of such involvement had not yet been made.
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— By Matthew Lee
Dozens evacuate from southeastern Bahamas
Authorities in the Bahamas are evacuating dozens of people from the archipelago’s southeast corner ahead of Hurricane Melissa.
“We’ve had about five flights so far,” said Alex Storr, executive chairman of the Bahamas’ Disaster Management Authority.
He said officials expect at least four more flights later Wednesday.
Melissa is expected to cut through the southeast Bahamas in the next few hours.
Cuba’s president says damage could be ‘substantial’
Authorities in Holguín province, where Hurricane Melissa’s center exited Cuba on Wednesday, said 250,000 people spent the night in shelters.
While details of the damage caused remained unavailable, President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned it could be “substantial.”
“It has been a very complex early morning,” Díaz-Canel wrote on X. “As soon as conditions allow, we will begin the recovery. We are ready.”
‘So many things have blown away’
Empress Thandi Wise walked along washed-out roads on Wednesday afternoon to access her home in Jamaica’s Treasure Beach, a close-knit community of fishing villages and beachside cafes just east of where Melissa made landfall.
Wise and her family, including her elderly mother and 12-year-old daughter, sheltered at a friend’s house during the storm and haven’t been able to get to the wellness center and yoga studio she runs on the other side of town.
“I’m looking at my house, and so many things have blown away,” Wise told The Associated Press during a phone interview. “Windows are out, doors are out. I’m just trying to figure out how to pick up the pieces. Everything is wet.”
She said she and her neighbors are just grateful to be safe and able to go outside, though many people lost their roofs for the second time after being hit by Hurricane Beryl in July 2024.
Beryl was “child’s play,” compared to this week’s storm, Wise said.
At least 40 dead in Haiti
At least 40 people have died across Haiti, Steven Aristil, with Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency, tells The Associated Press.
He said 20 of those deaths were reported in the southern coastal town of Petit-Goâve, where another 10 remain missing.
Earlier Wednesday, the mayor of Petit-Goâve told the AP that at least 25 people were killed in that community.
The number of dead and missing in Haiti often fluctuate in the early days following major natural disasters.
Aristil said officials expect the death toll to keep rising as as heavy rains persist.
Haiti prime minister says ‘death toll could change’
Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé expressed concern about the number of victims reported in the country’s southern region and noted that the death toll could change.
“The government pays its respects to the deceased and shares the profound sorrow of the bereaved families and the affected communities,” he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Jean Bertrand Subrème, the mayor of the southern coastal town of Petit-Goâve, told The Associated Press that flooding from Melissa killed at least 25 people there.
Fils-Aimé said rescue teams have been deployed to help with ongoing emergencies, assess humanitarian needs and restore access to isolated areas.
Police find 4 more bodies in southwest Jamaica
Authorities have found at least four bodies in southwest Jamaica, Police Superintendent Coleridge Minto told Nationwide News Network radio station on Wednesday.
Two of the bodies washed ashore in the Black River community but have not been identified. Meanwhile, the bodies of a 35-year-old man and a 64-year-old man were found in Galleon Beach in the southern parish of St. Elizabeth. This brings the death toll in Jamaica to eight.
Minto said police were investigating other unconfirmed deaths.
Britain to send $3.3 million to Jamaica
Britain is sending 2.5 million pounds ($3.3 million) in humanitarian funding to Jamaica to deliver emergency supplies such as shelter kits, water filters and blankets in the wake of Hurricane Melissa.
The government said Royal Navy ship HMS Trent is in the Caribbean and a specialist Foreign Office team has been sent to Miami to provide support to stranded British nationals.
Up to 8,000 U.K. citizens are thought to be in Jamaica, either on vacation or visiting family. All airports there are currently closed.
Britain’s Foreign Office said Melissa was “likely to be the strongest hurricane in Jamaica’s history” and was expected to have left towns and infrastructure “severely damaged or destroyed.” About three-quarters of the island is currently without power.
Jamaican coastal town officials plead for help
Officials in Black River, Jamaica, a coastal town of approximately 5,000 people in the southwestern part of the Island, pleaded for help in recovery efforts.
“Catastrophic is a mild term based on what we are observing,” Black River mayor Richard Solomon told a news conference on Wednesday, noting that local rescue infrastructure had been demolished by the storm.
The local hospital, police units and emergency services were flooded and unable to conduct emergency recovery operations, he said. The storm also destroyed the facility where relief supplies were being stored.
“We are not able to help at all,” Solomon said, standing in front of obliterated buildings and debris as he called for external help.
“Conditions are going to deteriorate as the day progresses,” Solomon said.
US to send response teams to the Caribbean
The United States is sending rescue and response teams to assist in recovery efforts in the Caribbean, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on X on Wednesday. He said that government officials were coordinating with leadership in Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.
“Our prayers are with the people of the Caribbean,” he wrote.
‘Growing in size’
Michael Brennan, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, said the storm began affecting the southeastern Bahamas on Wednesday.
“The storm is growing in size,” he said, noting that tropical storm force winds now extend almost 200 miles (322 kilometers) from the center.
Melissa’s center is forecast to move through southeastern Bahamas later Wednesday, generating up to 7 feet (2 meters) of storm surge in the area.
“People should be in their safe shelter,” he said.
By late Thursday, Melissa is expected to pass just west of Bermuda.
Brennan warned that additional flooding was still possible Wednesday in Jamaica and in southern Haiti, where at least 25 were reported killed after a river burst its banks.
Most of Jamaica without power
Dana Morris Dixon, Jamaica’s education minister, said that 77% of the island was without power on Wednesday.
“That is a large number,” she said, adding that the water systems, however, were not greatly affected.
She said Prime Minister Andrew Holness would soon fly over the most affected areas, including St. Elizabeth, Manchester, West Moreland and St. James, where crews were still trying to access areas and determine the extent of the damage.
“It is too early for us to say definitely,” she noted.
Thousands packed into shelters in Jamaica
More than 25,000 people were packed into shelters across Jamaica on Wednesday, hours after Melissa made landfall as a catastrophic Category 5 storm.
People kept streaming into the shelters throughout the day after the storm ripped off the roofs of their homes and left them temporarily homeless.
“It’s not going to be an easy road, Jamaica,” said Desmond McKenzie, deputy chairman of Jamaica’s Disaster Risk Management Council.
He said no one should be turned away from any shelter, and that they would remain open indefinitely until a long-term housing solution is found.
At least 25 killed in Haiti
Jean Bertrand Subrème, mayor of the southern Haitian coastal town of Petit-Goâve, told The Associated Press that 25 people died after La Digue river burst its banks and flooded nearby homes.
Dozens of homes collapse and people remain trapped under the rubble, he said, adding: “I am overwhelmed by the situation.”
Over 730,000 people take shelter in eastern Cuba
Cuban authorities said some 735,000 people remain in shelters after being evacuated from their homes in the island’s eastern region.
Yanetsy Terry Gutiérrez, governor of Granma province, one of the first areas hit by the hurricane, said Wednesday morning that “several areas of the province are underwater, with the most significant impact in the municipal capital of Jiguaní.”
She said that rivers overflowed, flooding homes and workplaces.
Officials also reported collapsed houses, blocked mountain roads and roofs blown off. The province’s reservoirs continue to overflow after being filled by heavy rains.
More than 15 inches (40 centimeters) of rain was reported in the Jiguaní settlement of Charco Redondo.
Aid response for Cuba
UNICEF reported on social media that it was sending aid to Cuba, including 1,900 sheets of roofing material, waterproof blankets, recreation kits for 20,000 children, and school supplies for 10,000 children under five.
Landslides and floods in Jamaica
The small town of Santa Cruz in the southern Jamaican parish of St. Elizabeth was devastated by Hurricane Melissa.
A massive landslide triggered by widespread flooding blocked the town’s main roads, and streets have been reduced to mud pits. Residents swept out gallons of water from their homes as they tried to salvage whatever was left of their belongings.
“I never see anything like this before in all my years living here,” said Jennifer Small.
Fierce winds ripped off part of the roof at St. Elizabeth Technical High School, which was designated a public shelter.
“The entire hillside came down last night,” Robert James said.
Some residents emerge in eastern Cuba
“That was hell. All night long, it was terrible,” said Reinaldo Charon, 52, who was one of the few people who ventured out on Wednesday morning in Santiago de Cuba, covered by a plastic sheet to keep dry from the intermittent rain.
David Savaree, a 44-year-old mechanic, said: “I saw (Melissa) as weaker than (Hurricane) Sandy, but we have to keep going.”
Melissa tore off roofs and uprooted trees in the eastern province, but the extent of the damage wasn’t immediately known.
‘Rain is still coming’
In Cuba’s Las Tunas, 73-year-old retiree Manuel Pérez told The Associated Press by phone it was impossible to quantify the damage just yet because the hurricane hit at night, when one was on the streets.
“The winds and gusts were very strong, and the rain is still coming,” he said.
Jamaica lifts tropical storm warning – NHC
As Jamaican officials report complications in assessing the damage, the National Hurricane Center said the local government had lifted the tropical storm warning there.
Melissa is expected to remain a powerful hurricane when it moves across the Bahamas on Wednesday and passes near Bermuda on Thursday night, the NHC said in an advisory.
‘There will be a lot of damage’
The hurricane could worsen Cuba’s severe economic crisis, which already has led to prolonged power blackouts, as well as fuel and food shortages.
“There will be a lot of work to do. We know there will be a lot of damage,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said in a televised address.
He urged the public not to underestimate the power of Melissa, “the strongest ever to hit national territory.”
Jamaica assesses damage
In Jamaica, officials told local radio there was extensive damage in the island’s southwestern and northwestern regions.
“There’s a total communication blackout on that side,” said Richard Thompson, acting director general of Jamaica’s Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management.
More than half a million customers were without power late Tuesday as officials reported that most of the island had downed trees, power lines and extensive flooding.
Extensive damage was reported in parts of Clarendon in the south and in the southwestern parish of St. Elizabeth, which was “under water,” said Desmond McKenzie, deputy chairman of Jamaica’s Disaster Risk Management Council.
The storm damaged four hospitals and left one without power, forcing officials to evacuate 75 patients, McKenzie said.
US sends search and rescue teams
The U.S. government said it was deploying a disaster response team and search and rescue personnel to the region.
The State Department said non-emergency personnel and family members of U.S. government employees were authorized to leave Jamaica because of the storm’s impact.
