Large-scale evacuations are ongoing for nations in the path of the highly destructive Hurricane Melissa, causing widespread death and devastation.
The hurricane has been moving across Cuba, downgrading to a Category 2 storm today after severely impacting Jamaica as one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record, as reported by the US National Hurricane Center. Cuba has seen hundreds of thousands of residents relocated to shelters. Regions under a hurricane warning include Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, Holguin, and Las Tunas provinces, along with the southeastern and central Bahamas.
Mayor Jean Bertrand Subrème of Petit-Goâve, a southern Haitian coastal town, revealed that 25 individuals lost their lives due to flooding caused by the La Digue river overflowing, resulting in collapsed homes and people trapped under debris. He expressed being overwhelmed by the dire circumstances.
With sustained winds of 105mph, Hurricane Melissa is currently tracking north-northeast at 14mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The hurricane’s center is positioned 45 miles northwest of Guantánamo, Cuba, and 205 miles south of the central Bahamas.
The National Hurricane Center issued a warning urging swift completion of storm preparations in the Bahamas. Melissa is forecasted to head in a northeasterly direction, posing a threat of powerful winds and heavy rainfall to the Bahamas and Bermuda.
Highlighting the potential danger, the National Hurricane Center cautioned that even regions on the fringes of the storm, like Turks and Caicos, could face a “life-threatening storm surge.”
For the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, the agency mentioned the expectation of hurricane conditions, perilous storm surges, and intense rainfall affecting southeast and central Bahamas today, while Turks and Caicos are likely to experience tropical storms, heavy rain, and significant storm surges.
Regarding Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the forecast includes forecasts of flash floods, catastrophic landslides, extensive damage, and potential community separations in Haiti, with tropical storms anticipated until afternoon in the region.
Looking ahead to Bermuda, the National Hurricane Center warned of hurricanes and heavy rain beginning on Thursday and persisting throughout the day.
Having initially hit Jamaica as a catastrophic Category 5 storm with peak winds of 185 mph, Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Cuba as a Category 3 storm, leaving approximately 735,000 individuals in shelters in eastern Cuba, according to authorities.
The UK is providing £2.5 million in humanitarian aid to Jamaica for emergency relief efforts post-Hurricane Melissa, including supplies like shelter kits, water filters, and blankets. The Royal Navy ship HMS Trent is in the Caribbean, and a specialized Foreign Office team has been dispatched to Miami to assist stranded British citizens.
There are an estimated 8,000 UK nationals in Jamaica, many of whom are on holiday or visiting relatives, with all airports currently closed. The British Foreign Office stated that Melissa is likely the most severe hurricane in Jamaica’s history, inflicting severe damage or destruction to towns and infrastructure, with around three-quarters of the island facing power outages.
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