HURRICANE MELISSA LEAVES BEHIND DEATH, DESTRUCTION IN JAMAICA, HAITI AND CUBA

One Caribbean Nation.

MONSTROUS MELISSA
HURRICANE MELISSA  LEAVES BEHIND DEATH, WIDESPREAD DESTRUCTION
Hurricane Melissa left dozens dead and widespread destruction across Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica, where roofless homes, toppled utility poles and water-logged furniture dominated the landscape Wednesday.
A landslide blocked the main roads of Santa Cruz in Jamaica’s St Elizabeth parish, where the 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 a high school, a designated public shelter.
Melissa made landfall Tuesday in Jamaica as a catastrophic Category 5 storm with top winds of 185 mph , one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, before weakening and moving on to Cuba, but even countries outside the direct path of the massive storm felt its devastating effects.
At least 40 people have died across Haiti, Steven Aristil with Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency told The Associated Press. He said 20 of those deaths were reported in the southern coastal town of Petit-Goâve, where another 10 remain missing. Earlier Wednesday, the mayor of Petit-Goâve told the AP that at least 25 people were killed in that community, where flooding collapsed dozens of homes. The number of dead and missing in Haiti often fluctuate in the early days after major natural disasters.
In Cuba, officials reported collapsed houses, blocked mountain roads and roofs blown off Wednesday, with the heaviest destruction concentrated in the southwest and northwest.
Authorities said about 735 000 people remained in shelters.
(Associated Press)

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