KINGSTON – Jamaica yesterday declared a ‘disaster area’ after Hurricane Melissa wreaked havoc on the island leaving a trail of destruction before the storm slammed into Cuba.
Entire towns have been left underwater and tens of thousands of tourists remain trapped after Melissa, the most powerful storm in the Caribbean’s modern history, tore into the nation yesterday.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the island was a ‘disaster area’ as he seeks to ‘prevent any exploitation at a time when citizens are securing food, water and supplies’ in the midst of the tragedy.
Some 15 000 Jamaicans are hunkered down in shelters and as many as 530 000 people are without power, officials said. After leaving Jamaica, the storm weakened as it barreled its way towards Cuba, where it made landfall earlier this morning.
So far, seven deaths have been reported during storm preparations across Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. But officials said since the storm made landfall in Jamaica, they have not recorded any new fatalities.
Melissa is one of the strongest hurricanes in recorded history, surpassing the intensity of Katrina. That storm caused an estimated US$125 billionn (£94 billion) worth of damage and killed 1 392 people when it struck New Orleans in 2005.
Hurricane Melissa has made landfall in eastern Cuba as a Category 3 storm after pummelling Jamaica as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, the US National Hurricane Centre said.
Hundreds of thousands of people had been evacuated to shelters in Cuba, and a hurricane warning was in effect for the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, Holguin and Las Tunas.
Early yesterday, Melissa had top sustained winds of 120mph and was moving north east at 10mph, according to the National Hurricane Centre in Miami.
The hurricane was centred 20 miles east of Chivirico and about 60 miles west-south-west of Guantanamo. Melissa was forecast to cross the island through the morning and move into the Bahamas later yesterday.
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