The death toll from Hurricane Melissa climbed to nearly 50 on Thursday after the devastating storm tore through several Caribbean nations and moved toward Bermuda, officials confirmed.
According to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), flooding in the Bahamas was expected to ease, though high water levels could continue in Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. The center warned that tropical storm conditions were already affecting Bermuda late Thursday, with maximum sustained winds reaching 100 miles (155 kilometers) per hour, and urged residents to take precautionary measures.
Melissa, described as one of the most powerful storms ever recorded, was made four times more likely due to human-induced climate change, a study from Imperial College London revealed.
The hurricane struck Jamaica and Cuba with immense force, leaving widespread destruction in its wake. In Jamaica, Information Minister Dana Morris Dixon told local media, including the Jamaica Gleaner, that “the confirmed death toll from Hurricane Melissa is now at 19,” with nine deaths recorded in Westmoreland and eight in St. Elizabeth, two of the island’s worst-hit parishes.
Communication and transportation remain severely disrupted in both Jamaica and Cuba, making it difficult to assess the full extent of the damage.
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In Haiti, the Civil Defence Agency reported that at least 30 people have died, with 20 others injured and another 20 missing. Over 1,000 homes were flooded, forcing about 16,000 people into shelters.
Cuba’s eastern provinces — including Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, and Guantánamo — faced catastrophic flooding and structural damage as the storm tore through communities already struggling with a severe economic crisis. Cuban authorities said around 735,000 people had been evacuated.
“Melissa killed us, because it left us destroyed,” said Felicia Correa, a resident of La Trampa near El Cobre. “We were already going through tremendous hardship. Now, of course, we are much worse off.”
The United States deployed disaster assistance response teams and search and rescue personnel to Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas, with more teams heading to Haiti, a State Department official said. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also confirmed that Washington was “prepared to offer immediate humanitarian aid to the people of Cuba affected by the hurricane.”
The UK government announced £2.5 million (about $3.3 million) in emergency relief funding and said it was arranging limited evacuation flights for British nationals in the region.
In Jamaica, UN Resident Coordinator Dennis Zulu described the hurricane’s impact as “tremendous, unprecedented devastation of infrastructure, of property, roads, network connectivity.”
Hurricane Melissa tied the 1935 record for the most intense storm ever to make landfall when it hit Jamaica on Tuesday, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
For many survivors, the destruction is total. In Seaford Town, farmer and businessman Christopher Hacker said his restaurant and banana plantations were completely wiped out. “Everything is gone,” he lamented.
UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said the catastrophe serves as “a brutal reminder of the urgent need to step up climate action on all fronts.”