The confirmed death toll from Hurricane Melissa rose to 49 on Thursday, according to official reports, after devastating much of the northern Caribbean and gathering speed as it headed toward Bermuda in the North Atlantic.
Authorities in Haiti, which was not directly hit but still suffered days of torrential rain from the slow-moving storm, reported at least 30 dead and 20 others missing.
At least 23 people, including 10 children, died in Petit-Goave, a town in southern Haiti, when a river burst its banks. Roads, houses and farmland were also damaged by the rains.
Jamaica’s information minister confirmed there were at least 19 dead, but said authorities were continuing search and rescue efforts. The storm left hundreds of thousands of people without power, ripped roofs off buildings and scattered fields of rubble.
The Jamaican Army has called on reserve personnel to report for duty to assist in relief and rescue operations.
Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica and became the strongest storm ever recorded in the country’s history, leaving behind widespread damage.
Melissa made landfall in southwest Jamaica on Tuesday as a powerful Category 5 hurricane, the Caribbean country’s strongest storm ever to directly hit its shores and the first major hurricane to do so since 1988.
Wind speeds were well above the minimum level for the strongest hurricane classification. AccuWeather forecasters said it tied for the second strongest Atlantic hurricane on record in terms of wind speeds when it made landfall.
The forecaster estimated damage and economic losses in the western Caribbean at $67 billion to $72 billion.
Melissa also hit eastern Cuba, where some 735,000 people were evacuated. As of Thursday, no deaths had been reported there despite significant damage to homes and crops.
As of 11 p.m. local time, Melissa was a Category 2 storm 164 miles (264 kilometers) west of the British North Atlantic island territory of Bermuda, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (161 km/h).
Bermuda residents remained calm as the storm was expected to give the island a relatively wide berth. Authorities said they would close the roadway Thursday evening and close schools and ferries Friday “out of an abundance of caution.”
In the Bahamas, which Melissa passed through Wednesday evening, authorities lifted storm warnings but did not give the all-clear. An official said authorities expected to decide by Saturday whether it was safe for the hundreds of people evacuated from the affected islands to return home.
