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hurricane melissa has seen its death rate enter double digits amid widespread destruction In Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica, where roofless houses and waterlogged furniture dominated the landscape.
At least 25 people died 18 people are missing in Haiti, Haiti’s civil protection agency said in a statement on Wednesday.
Twenty of those killed and 10 of the missing were from the southern coastal town of Petit-Goave, where flooding caused dozens of homes to collapse.
Hurricane Melissa caused damage More than 160 homes and 80 others were destroyed, with 10 of the 20 people killed confirmed to be children.
Charlie Saint-Vil, a 30-year-old lawyer, said that as he walked the streets of the small coastal town where he grew up, he saw bodies lying amid the debris after the storm.
“People have lost everything,” he said, adding that they were screaming as they searched for their children.
Although the immediate threat of the storm has passed, Mr. Saint-Vil said that given the political instability in Haiti, residents of Petit-Goave will live in fear over access to medicine, water and food in the coming days.
“We don’t know what will happen tomorrow or the day after,” he said.
For now, neighbors are helping each other collect supplies and find places to sleep.
In his small apartment, Mr. Saint-Vil is hosting several friends who have lost their homes. “I will do what I can, but it is not easy because the situation is really complicated for everyone,” he said.
In Cuba, officials on Wednesday reported collapsed houses, blocked mountain roads and blown roofs off buildings, with the heaviest destruction in the southwest and northwest.
Officials said about 735,000 people remained in shelters.
“It was hell. It was terrible the whole night,” said Reynaldo Charron in Santiago de Cuba.
The 52-year-old man was one of the few people covered with plastic sheeting to come out in intermittent rain on Wednesday.
Local media showed photos of severe damage to the Juan Bruno Zayas Clinical Hospital: shattered glass on the floor, waiting rooms in ruins and masonry walls scattered on the ground.
“As soon as the conditions are favorable, we will begin the recovery. We are ready,” President Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote on the social media platform X.
The storm could worsen Cuba’s severe economic crisis, which has already caused fuel and food shortages as well as prolonged power outages.
in jamaica, More than 25,000 people were kept in shelters The roofs of their houses were blown away after the storm on Wednesday and they were left temporarily homeless. At least eight people were killed.
Landslides on Wednesday blocked main roads in Santa Cruz in Jamaica’s St. Elizabeth Parish, with roads turning into mud puddles.
Residents flushed water from homes trying to save belongings. A portion of the roof of a high school that served as a public shelter was blown into the air.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before in all my years of living here,” said resident Jennifer Small.
The extent of damage from the deadly storm was unclear as widespread power outages and hazardous conditions remained in the area.
Jamaica’s Education Minister Dana Morris Dixon said, “It’s too early for us to say anything definitively.” He said 77 percent of the island is without electricity.
Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph), one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, before weakening and moving toward Cuba, but countries outside the massive storm’s direct path also felt its devastating effects.
Forecasters expect Melissa, now a Category 1 hurricane, to bring dangerous winds, flooding and storm surge to the Bahamas on Wednesday night.
UK confirms it is supporting Jamaica £2.5 million in emergency funds after sir keir starmer Described the country’s scenery as “truly shocking”.