Communities across the northern Caribbean are grappling with the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, as the death toll from the catastrophic storm continues to climb.
In southeast Jamaica, the rumble of heavy machinery, chainsaws, and machetes fills the air.
Government workers and residents are clearing roads in a push to reach isolated communities, which sustained a direct hit from one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record.
Stunned residents wander through the wreckage, many staring at their roofless homes and waterlogged belongings.
“I donât have a house now,” lamented Sylvester Guthrie, a distressed resident of Lacovia in St. Elizabeth, clutching his bicycle â his only possession of value left after the storm.
The sanitation worker pleaded, “I have land in another location that I can build back but I am going to need help.”
Emergency relief flights have begun landing at Jamaicaâs main international airport, which reopened late on Wednesday. Crews are now distributing water, food, and other basic supplies to those in need.
âThe devastation is enormousâ, Jamaican Transportation Minister Daryl Vaz said.
Some Jamaicans wondered where they would live.
âI am now homeless, but I have to be hopeful because I have life,â said Sheryl Smith, who lost the roof of her home.
Authorities said they have found at least four bodies in southwest Jamaica.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness said up to 90 per cent of roofs in the southwest coastal community of Black River were destroyed.
âBlack River is what you would describe as ground zero,â he said. âThe people are still coming to grips with the destruction.â
More than 25,000 people remained crowded into shelters across the western half of Jamaica, with 77 per cent of the island without power.
Melissa also unleashed catastrophic flooding in Haiti, where at least 25 people were reported killed and 18 others missing, mostly in the countryâs southern region.
Steven Guadard, who lives in Petit-Goâve, said Melissa killed his entire family.
âI had four children at home: a 1-month-old baby, a 7-year-old, an 8-year-old and another who was about to turn 4,â he said.
Haitiâs Civil Protection Agency said Hurricane Melissa killed at least 20 people in Petit-Goâve, including 10 children. It also damaged more than 160 homes and destroyed 80 others.
Officials warned that 152 disabled people in Haitiâs southern region required emergency food assistance. More than 11,600 people remained sheltered in Haiti because of the storm.
Meanwhile, in Cuba, people began to clear blocked roads and highways with heavy equipment and even enlisted the help of the military, which rescued people trapped in isolated communities and at risk from landslides.
No fatalities were reported after the Civil Defense evacuated more than 735,000 people across eastern Cuba. They slowly were starting to return home.
âWe are cleaning the streets, clearing the way,â said Yaima Almenares, a physical education teacher from the city of Santiago, as she and other neighbors swept branches and debris from sidewalks and avenues, cutting down fallen tree trunks and removing accumulated trash.
In the more rural areas outside the city of Santiago de Cuba, water remained accumulated in vulnerable homes on Wednesday night as residents returned from their shelters to save beds, mattresses, chairs, tables and fans they had elevated ahead of the storm.
A televised Civil Defense meeting chaired by President Miguel DĂaz-Canel did not provide an official estimate of the damage.
However, officials from the affected provinces â Santiago, Granma, HolguĂn, GuantĂĄnamo, and Las Tunas â reported losses of roofs, power lines, fiber optic telecommunications cables, cut roads, isolated communities and losses of banana, cassava and coffee plantations.
Officials said the rains were beneficial for the reservoirs and for easing a severe drought in eastern Cuba.
Many communities were still without electricity, internet and telephone service due to downed transformers and power lines.
When Melissa came ashore in Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane with top winds of 185 mph (295 kph) on Tuesday, it tied strength records for Atlantic hurricanes making landfall, both in wind speed and barometric pressure. It was still a Category 3 hurricane when it made landfall again in eastern Cuba early Wednesday.
A hurricane warning remained in effect late Wednesday for the southeastern and central Bahamas and for Bermuda.
Hurricane conditions were expected to last through the night in the southeastern Bahamas, where dozens of people have been evacuated.
Melissa was a Category 2 storm with top sustained winds near 100 mph (155 kph) late Wednesday and was moving north-northeast at 21 mph (33 kph) according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The hurricane was centered about 105 miles (170 kilometers) east-northeast of the central Bahamas and about 800 miles (1,285 kilometers) southwest of Bermuda.
Melissa was forecast to pass near or to the west of Bermuda late Thursday and may strengthen further before weakening.
