Hurricane Melissa leaves 25 dead in Haiti, causes damage in Jamaica and Cuba

Santiago de Cuba: Flooding from Hurricane Melissa killed 25 people in Haiti while the storm still churned across Cuba on Wednesday after leaving Jamaica with widespread damage and power outages, officials say.

Jean Bertrand Subreme, mayor of the southern Haitian coastal town of Petit-Goâve, told The Associated Press that 25 people died after La Digue river burst its banks and flooded nearby homes.

Dozens of homes collapsed and people were still trapped under rubble as of Wednesday morning, he said.

“I am overwhelmed by the situation,” he said as he pleaded with the government to help rescue victims.

Only one official from Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency was in the area, with residents struggling to evacuate amid heavy floodwaters unleashed by Hurricane Melissa in recent days. At least one death was reported in Jamaica, where Melissa roared ashore Tuesday with top sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph), one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.

A tree fell on a baby in the island nation’s west, state minister Abka Fitz-Henley told local radio station Nationwide News Network, adding that most destruction was concentrated in the southwest and northwest.

“That was hell. All night long, it was terrible,” said Reinaldo Charon in Santiago de Cuba. The 52-year-old was one of the few people venturing out Wednesday, covered by a plastic sheet in the intermittent rain.

Parts of Granma province, especially the municipal capital, Jiguaní, were underwater, said Gov. Yanetsy Terry Gutiérrez. More than 15 inches (40 centimeters) of rain was reported in Jiguaní’s settlement of Charco Redondo.

Officials reported collapsed houses, blocked mountain roads and roofs blown off. Authorities said about 735,000 people remained in shelters in eastern Cuba.

Melissa had top sustained winds of 100 mph (155 kph), a Category 2 storm, and was moving northeast at 14 mph (22 kph) according to the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami. The hurricane was centred about 150 miles (245 kilometers) south of the central Bahamas. Melissa was forecast to continue weakening as it crossed Cuba but remain strong as it moves across the southeastern or central Bahamas later Wednesday. It was expected to make its way late Thursday near or to the west of Bermuda. Haiti and the Turks and Caicos also braced for its effects.