As the Bahamas braced for the storm, officials in Jamaica and Cuba prepared to assess the damage on Wednesday.
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.Flooding from the storm killed 25 people in Haiti and at least one death was reported in Jamaica, where Melissa roared ashore with top sustained winds of 185 mph, leaving widespread damage and power outages.
Melissa tore off roofs and uprooted trees in eastern Cuba, but the full extent of the damage wasn’t immediately known. “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.Jean Bertrand Subrème, mayor of the southern Haitian coastal town of Petit-Goâve, told The Associated Press that dozens of homes collapsed and people were still trapped under rubble as of Wednesday morning. “I am overwhelmed by the situation,” he said as he pleaded with the government to help rescue victims. Melissa had top sustained winds of 100 mph and was moving northeast at 14 mph according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. The hurricane was centered about 150 miles south of the central Bahamas.The storm was forecast to continue weakening as it crossed Cuba but remain strong as it moves across the southeastern or central Bahamas later Wednesday. It was expected to make its way late Thursday near or to the west of Bermuda. Haiti and the Turks and Caicos also braced for its effects. Melissa was expected to generate a surge of up to 12 feet in the region and drop up to 20 inches of rain in parts of eastern Cuba. Intense rain could cause life-threatening flooding with numerous landslides, U.S. forecasters said. 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, and urged the population not to underestimate the power of Melissa, “the strongest ever to hit national territory.” Government officials in the Bahamas are urging people to ensure their safety amid final preparations for the storm's arrival later today in the southeast and central parts of the country. “This is your final opportunity to ensure your safety. If you have not already found secure shelter, please do so immediately,” said Leon Lundy, disaster risk management minister, in a press briefing last night.“This is the most extensive pre-event evacuation exercise undertaken by the government of The Bahamas in recent history,” said Aaron Sargent, managing director of the Bahamas Disaster Risk Management Authority.Authorities in Jamaica are assessing the damage from Melissa after it tore through the island nation Tuesday as the fifth most intense Atlantic hurricane on record by pressure, and the strongest to make landfall since 2019. Jamaican officials reported complications in assessing the damage, while the National Hurricane Center said the local government had lifted the tropical storm warning. “There’s a total communication blackout on that side,” Richard Thompson, acting director general of Jamaica’s Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, told the Nationwide News Network. More than half a million customers were without power late Tuesday. Extensive damage was reported in parts of Clarendon in the south and in the southwestern parish of St. Elizabeth, which was"underwater,” said Desmond McKenzie, deputy chairman of Jamaica’s Disaster Risk Management Council. He said the storm damaged four hospitals and left one without power, forcing officials to evacuate 75 patients. Santa Cruz town in St. Elizabeth parish was devastated. A landslide blocked main roads. Streets were reduced to mud pits. Residents swept water from homes as they tried to salvage belongings. Winds ripped off part of the roof at St. Elizabeth Technical High School, a designated public shelter.“The entire hillside came down last night,” said another resident, Robert James. The government said it hopes to reopen all of Jamaica’s airports as early as Thursday to ensure quick distribution of emergency relief supplies. The U.S. government said it was deploying a disaster response team and search and rescue personnel to the region. And 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.
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