SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba: Cubans waded through flooded houses Wednesday and authorities in Haiti reported 20 dead as Hurricane Melissa blasted across the Caribbean after devastating swaths of Jamaica.
The storm made landfall in Cuba overnight, with the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) describing it as “extremely dangerous” even as it started to weaken.
“It has been a very difficult early morning,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on social media.
“Extensive damage, and Hurricane Melissa is still over Cuban territory. I urge our people not to let their guard down, to maintain discipline, and to remain safely sheltered.”
Residents in the east of the communist island struggled through flooded homes and inundated streets, with windows smashed, power cables downed and roofs torn off.
AFP reporters in the city of Santiago de Cuba reported that winds were intense on Wednesday morning and streets were full of mud, tree branches, roof tiles, downed power poles and other debris.
The major hotel in the city had its glass windows shattered and some roof parts brought down.
Hurricane Melissa had hit Cuba with maximum sustained winds of 120 miles (195 kilometres) per hour, the NHC said, and warned of continued rains causing “life-threatening and potentially catastrophic flash flooding with numerous landslides.”
‘Disaster area’
At least 20 people in southern Haiti, including 10 children, were killed in floods, according to civil defence agency head Emmanuel Pierre.
In the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, officials said that a 79-year-old man was found dead after being swept away in a stream.
Hurricane Melissa tied the 1935 record for the most intense storm ever to make landfall when it battered Jamaica on Tuesday, according to data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared the island a “disaster area” as residents faced more flooding and a risk of landslides.
Lisa Sangster, a 30-year-old communications specialist in Kingston, said her home was devastated.
“My sister… explained that parts of our roof was blown off and other parts caved in and the entire house was flooded,” she told AFP.
Communications down
In the Cuban town of El Cobre, rescue workers attempted to reach 17 people, including children and elderly people, trapped by rising floodwaters and a landslide, according to state media.
“We are safe and trying to stay calm,” rheumatologist Lionnis Francos, one of those stranded, told the official news site Cubadebate.
“The rescuers arrived quickly. They called us, but couldn’t cross because the road is blocked.”
The full scale of Melissa’s damage is not yet clear. A comprehensive assessment could take days with communications networks badly disrupted across the region.
Jamaican government minister Desmond McKenzie said several hospitals were damaged, including in Saint Elizabeth, a coastal district he said was “underwater.”
Many homes were destroyed and about 25,000 people sought refuge in shelters.
McKenzie said no deaths had been confirmed in Jamaica, though situation reports were still coming in.
“It is not going to be an easy road, Jamaica. We have seen the extent of the damage. It is going to take a lot of time,” he added.
On Monday, officials in Jamaica said three people had died while preparing for the storm, cutting tree branches and working on ladders.
Mathue Tapper, 31, told AFP from Kingston those in the capital were “lucky” but feared for fellow Jamaicans in the island’s more rural western areas.
Due to climate change, warmer sea surface temperatures inject more energy into storms, boosting their intensity with stronger winds and more precipitation.
“Human-caused climate change is making all of the worst aspects of Hurricane Melissa even worse,” said climate scientist Daniel Gilford.
