Hurricane Melissa is passing to the northwest of Bermuda on Thursday night after killing at least 49 people in the Caribbean.
Bermuda is under a Hurricane Warning as the Category 2 storm passes nearby. Tropical storm conditions are now spreading over Bermuda, with hurricane conditions expected later in the evening, the National Hurricane Center said at 11 p.m. on Thursday.
The storm’s winds are currently at 100 mph, and it’s expected to weaken on Thursday night, according to the National Hurricane Center. It’s then expected to become a post-tropical low by Friday night.
Hurricane Melissa’s death toll has continued to rise as authorities survey the damage from the record-breaking storm.
Authorities in Haiti said at least 30 people, including children, have been killed, according to the Associated Press. At least 19 deaths have also been reported in Jamaica. No casualties have been reported in Cuba, but the island has suffered widespread destruction.
The storm was the Caribbean’s third-most intense hurricane on record, as well as its slowest-moving, which made for even greater devastation from Jamaica to Cuba and Haiti.
The U.S. said it would deploy disaster response teams to the Caribbean to help those affected by Melissa.
Death toll rises to 49
Hurricane Melissa’s confirmed death toll climbed to 49, according to official reports, after wreaking destruction across much of the northern Caribbean and picking up speed as it headed past Bermuda in the North Atlantic.
Authorities in Haiti, which was not directly hit but nevertheless suffered days of torrential rains from the slow-moving storm, reported at least 30 deaths and 20 more missing.
At least 23 people, including 10 children, died in Haiti’s southern town of Petit-Goave when a river burst its banks. Roads, houses and farmlands were also damaged by the rains.
Jamaica’s information minister confirmed at least 19 deaths, but said authorities were continuing search and rescue efforts.
The storm left hundreds of thousands without power, ripped roofs of buildings and scattered fields with rubble.
Before and after view of the fishing village White House, Jamaica
Emergency relief flights land in Jamaica
Emergency relief flights are landing at Jamaica’s main international airport as crews distributed water, medicine and other basic supplies.
Helicopters dropped food as they thrummed above communities where the storm flattened homes, wiped out roads and destroyed bridges, cutting them off from assistance.
Government workers and residents began clearing roads in a push to reach dozens of isolated communities in the island’s southeast that sustained a direct hit from one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record.
“The entire Jamaica is really broken because of what has happened,” Education Minister Dana Morris Dixon said.
‘A dire situation unfolding in slow motion’: Why Hurricane Melissa has been so devastating
Hurricane Melissa has cut a path of destruction through the Caribbean this week, hitting Jamaica, Cuba and the Bahamas with winds of up to 185 mph.
Why has this storm been so devastating?
Keep reading:
Tropical storm conditions reported in Bermuda
Tropical storm conditions are occurring now in Bermuda, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center.
The island is also under a Hurricane Warning.
“On the forecast track, the center of Melissa is expected to pass to the northwest of Bermuda tonight and pass south of the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland as a post-tropical cyclone on Friday night,” the National Hurricane Center said.
Hurricane Melissa now a Category 2 storm
Hurricane Melissa is now a Category 2 storm with 105 mph winds as it passes to the northwest of Bermuda.
The storm is expected to weaken later tonight and on Friday, the National Hurricane Center said. It’s forecasted to then become a post-tropical low by Friday night.
Death toll rises as Hurricane Melissa thrashes Bermuda
Hurricane Melissa’s death toll is rising as authorities assess the damage from the storm.
At least 30 people were killed in Haiti, and at least 19 deaths have been reported in Jamaica, the Associated Press reports.
Pictures show devastation in Cuba and Haiti
Watch: Drone footage shows scale of Hurricane Melissa’s destruction on Jamaican fishing village
New drone footage has revealed the scale of Hurricane Melissa’s destruction in a Jamaican fishing village.
National Hurricane Center shares latest update on Hurricane Melissa
Hurricane Melissa is moving rapidly northeast with 105 mph winds, the National Hurricane Center said in its 8 p.m. update on Thursday.
A Hurricane Warning is currently in effect for Bermuda.
“On the forecast track, the center of Melissa is expected to pass to the northwest of Bermuda tonight and pass south of the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland Friday night,” the agency said.
Hurricane Melissa is expected to weaken later Thursday night and Friday. It’s then expected to become a post-tropical low by Friday night.
