Hurricane Melissa death toll at least 27 after 'catastrophic' hit to Caribbean

Hurricane Melissa pulled away from Cuba on Wednesday morning, leaving a trail of devastation that stretched through Cuba’s second most populous region and Jamaica, where it was the strongest storm to ever strike the island nation. Now, it continues its devastating path through the Bahamas.

The storm has a confirmed death toll of at least 27, mostly in Haiti where flash flooding overtopped a river and submerged a community, killing 20, including 10 children, Haiti’s Office of Civil Protection confirmed to the Miami Herald. That’s on top of the three deaths previously reported in Haiti ahead of Melissa’s landfall and another confirmed in the Dominican Republic, as well as three in Jamaica.

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness issued a disaster declaration not long after Melissa’s record-breaking strike, and as much of a third of the island remains without power. Richard Thompson, acting director of Jamaica’s Office of Disaster Emergency Preparedness, said they are seeing extensive damage, particularly on the western side where Melissa roared ashore as a Category 5 storm.

“This morning the fire brigade is out trying to see how we can rescue people,” he said, describing people forced to take shelter on rooftops.

So far, there’s no count of the death in Jamaica post-Melissa. But officials said at least three people in Jamaica died of storm-related injuries before the hurricane made landfall, Dennis Zulu, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Jamaica, The Bahamas, Bermuda, The Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands, confirmed to the Herald.

“From what we know thus far, there’s been tremendous, unprecedented devastation of infrastructure, of property, roads, network connectivity, energy has been lost,” he said. “Houses really have been devastated. ... especially along the pathway of Hurricane Melissa, so there might not be houses to go back to.”

Video posted by Jamaica’s Constabulary Force in Black River, near where the eye came ashore, show snarled and downed power lines, piles of debris and many buildings completely collapsed — all on a street still covered in water. Other clips show a shredded ceiling and water pouring into the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, the popular tourism destination and where the eye re-emerged over the Caribbean.

An American tourist from South Carolina who weathered the storm from a resort in Montego Bay posted on X that the area was devastated in Melissa’s wake.

“The damage here is catastrophic, I wouldn’t wish yesterday on my worst enemy. Some of the scariest moments of my life,” he said.

At a press conference, Desmond McKenzie, minister of local government in Jamaica, reported that multiple hospitals had damaged roofs, were without power and hit by storm surge. Video posted on social media showed Hurricane Melissa’s winds peeling the roof off one hospital building near the eye wall and sending it flying.

At one hospital, 75 patients had to be evacuated. “Blocked roads right across the country,” he said. “Almost every parish is experiencing blocked roads, galled trees, utility poles and excess offing in many communities.” He said St. Elizabeth Parish — the island’s most important agricultural area — was “underwater.”

A hard hit for Cuba, too

But unlike the smash hit to Jamaica, Melissa’s Cuba landfall involves a weaker — and more importantly, much faster moving — Melissa.

The National Hurricane Center said Melissa came ashore in Santiago de Cuba with 120 mph winds around 3 a.m. Wednesday, marking the strongest storm to make landfall in Cuba since Hurricane Irma in 2017. It’s expected to bring up to 20 inches of flooding rain, high winds and up to 12 feet of storm surge throughout Wednesday.

As of 8 p.m., Melissa kept at 90 mph maximum sustained winds, a Category 1, and continued moving through the Bahamas at 16 mph. That’s a great deal faster than the 5 mph pace Melissa approached Jamaica or the 8 mph pace it crossed the island, which likely means a lesser blow for Bahamians.

But despite the weakened state, Melissa hammered Cuba, which has an ailing power grid and is still recovering from years of back-to-back storm hits. Nearly a quarter million people were evacuated ahead of the storm, and power has been cut in the affected provinces since early Tuesday evening. Press photographers have captured imaged of homes without roofs, flooded streets and buildings left in heaps.

Now that the eye is back over the warm ocean, forecasters said Melissa has a small window to strengthen a little before it whacks the Bahamas this evening, potentially rising from 90 mph sustained winds to 105 mph sustained winds.

Melissa is striking as a Category 1, with the eye potentially coming ashore near Crooked Island or Long Island. It could bring another 5 to 10 inches of rain, hurricane-force winds and 4 to 7 feet of storm surge.

The neighboring Turks and Caicos could also see some rain and high winds from the outskirts of Melissa.

“Melissa (is) producing damaging winds, flooding rains and a dangerous storm surge in the Bahamas,” the hurricane center said.

Meanwhile, this marks more than a week of continuous heavy rain for Haiti from Melissa’s outer bands. The storm has already claimed at least 24 lives in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and the rain is expected to continue another day.

For its final act, Melissa is expected to cross west of Bermuda on Friday as a hurricane. The storm hardy island could feel some of the storm’s outer bands, and officials have issued a hurricane warning for the island.

Recovery already underway

While the impacts of Melissa are still occurring, recovery is expected to be a greater challenge than usual this year with the dissolution of US AID. Many of the usual staff and departments who have directed Caribbean aid in the past have been laid off.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump said the U.S. would help the Caribbean recover from Melissa but did not go into specifics. “We’re watching it closely, and we’re prepared to move,” the president told reporters on Air Force One as he traveled to South Korea.

Jamaican Transport Minister Darryl Vaz said that he’s hoping to have the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston reopen as soon as Thursday to allow for the flow of aid.

Jamaica also launched an official platform to coordinate relief and manage recovery efforts: supportjamaica.gov.jm.

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(Miami Herald staff writer Devoun Cetoute contributed to this report.)

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