{"id":106375,"date":"2025-10-29T03:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T03:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/106375\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T03:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T03:38:09","slug":"hurricane-melissa-causes-extensive-damage-in-st-elizabeth-jamaica-cuba-next-in-its-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/106375\/","title":{"rendered":"Hurricane Melissa causes extensive damage in St\u202fElizabeth, Jamaica; Cuba next in its path"},"content":{"rendered":"

Government minister Desmond McKenzie said several hospitals had been damaged, including in the hard-hit southwestern district of Saint Elizabeth, a coastal area he said was \u201cunderwater\u201d. <\/p>\n

He told a briefing: \u201cSaint Elizabeth is the bread basket of the country, and that has taken a beating. The entire Jamaica has felt the brunt of Melissa.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hurricane was the worst to ever strike Jamaica, hitting land with maximum wind speeds even more potent than most of recent history\u2019s most brutal storms, including 2005\u2019s Katrina, which ravaged the US city of New Orleans.<\/p>\n

The storm took hours to cross over the Caribbean nation, a passage over land that diminished its winds, dropping by Tuesday evening local time to a Category 3 storm from the top-level of 5.<\/p>\n

But the still-powerful Melissa was set to hit Cuba overnight and later the Bahamas.<\/p>\n

Even before Melissa slammed into Jamaica, seven deaths \u2013 three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic \u2013 had been blamed on the deteriorating conditions.<\/p>\n

\"TwoTwo men repair a roof after Tropical Storm Melissa passed through Barahona, Dominican Republic on October 28. Photo \/ Carlos Fabal, AFP<\/p>\n

Jamaica\u2019s climate change minister told CNN Hurricane Melissa\u2019s effect was \u201ccatastrophic\u201d, citing flooded homes and \u201cseverely damaged public infrastructure\u201d and hospitals.<\/p>\n

And as if that weren\u2019t enough, health authorities were urging vigilance against crocodiles displaced by the torrential rains.<\/p>\n

\u201cRising water levels in rivers, gullies, and swamps could cause crocodiles to move into residential areas,\u201d the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) posted in a public service announcement on Instagram.<\/p>\n

Mathue Tapper, 31, told AFP from Kingston that those in the capital were \u201clucky\u201d but feared for fellow Jamaicans in the island\u2019s more rural areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart goes out to the folks living on the western end of the island,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Rio Cobre bursts its banks near St Catherine, Jamaica, shortly before Hurricane Melissa made landfall on October 28. Photo \/ Ricardo Makyn, AFP<\/p>\n

The mammoth storm could leave devastation on the scale of some of the worst hurricanes in recent memory such as Katrina, Maria or Harvey.<\/p>\n

Broad scientific consensus says human-driven climate change is responsible for intensified storms like Melissa that are occurring with increased frequency and higher potential for destruction and deadly flooding.<\/p>\n

Melissa lingered over Jamaica long enough that the rains were particularly dire.<\/p>\n

\u201cHuman-caused climate change is making all of the worst aspects of Hurricane Melissa even worse,\u201d said climate scientist Daniel Gilford.<\/p>\n

The Jamaican Red Cross, which was distributing drinking water and hygiene kits before infrastructure disruptions, said Melissa\u2019s \u201cslow nature\u201d exacerbated the anxiety.<\/p>\n

The UN is planning an airlift of some 2000 relief kits to Jamaica from a relief supply station in Barbados once air travel is possible.<\/p>\n

\"SeveralSeveral hospitals were damaged, and the UN plans to airlift medical relief supplies as soon as conditions allow. Photo \/ Chandan Khanna, AFP <\/p>\n

Assistance is also planned for other impacted countries, including Cuba and Haiti, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told journalists.<\/p>\n

Jamaican officials said some 25,000 tourists were in the country, which is famed for its normally crystalline waters.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Olympian sprinter Usain Bolt, one of Jamaica\u2019s most famous figures, was posting regularly on social media with messages for his home country: \u201cPray for Jamaica\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Government minister Desmond McKenzie said several hospitals had been damaged, including in the hard-hit southwestern district of Saint…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[74,9218,110,23604,28277,22510,76701,156,8999,33443,9928,49155,78,2514,302,72957,76702,76703,1446,74216,3025,13611,111,139,1536,69,31472,17216,6560,1974,14033,76700,210,1865,6634,21419,437,18980,102],"class_list":["post-106375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-after","tag-before","tag-brutal","tag-causes","tag-cuba","tag-damage","tag-destruction","tag-entertainment","tag-extensive","tag-heading","tag-hurricane","tag-hurricanes","tag-in","tag-island","tag-its","tag-jamaica","tag-landfall","tag-lashing","tag-making","tag-melissa","tag-most","tag-nation","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-nz","tag-path","tag-powerful","tag-rain","tag-record","tag-ripped","tag-st-elizabeth","tag-through","tag-today","tag-torrential","tag-towards","tag-tv","tag-winds","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}