Devastating images show the widespread destruction Hurricane Melissa reaped on Jamaica as it continues to tear through the Caribbean with the death toll soaring.
The catastrophic Category 5 storm made landfall on Tuesday in Jamaica with top winds of 185 mph (29, the strongest on record to hit the island, before weakening and moving on to Cuba.
At least 20 people - including 10 children - are reported to have died in river floods in Haiti.
In Jamaica, Melissa demolished homes, knocking down swaths of trees and washing out roads. Authorities did not yet release details of fatalities but said they expected loss of life.
As many as 8,000 British citizens are in the country as the “storm of the century” left catastrophic winds and flash flooding in its wake.
Eyewitness reports and videos on social media from Jamaica showed vehicles destroyed by flying debris, hotel doors blown off hinges and roofs scattered across neighbourhoods.
Montego Bay Airport is seen with broken glass and collapsed ceilings.
In southwestern Jamaica, the parish of St Elizabeth was left “underwater”, an official said with more than 500,000 residents without power.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness told CNN: “The reports that we have had so far would include damage to hospitals, significant damage to residential property, housing and commercial property as well, and damage to our road infrastructure.”
Holness said given the strength of the hurricane and the extent of the damage, “we are expecting that there would be some loss of life.”
A tree fell on a baby in Jamaica, Abka Fitz-Henley, a state minister, told Nationwide News Network.
In eastern Cuba, around 735,000 people were evacuated from homes as the storm approached, authorities said.
By mid-morning, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said Cuba had already suffered extensive damage and warned residents against letting down their guard, urging them to remain sheltered.
“It was so crazy. Like a freight train trying to come to a stop for eight hours,” said Journie Ealey, 34, a US tourist on vacation in Jamaica.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”
Meteorologists at AccuWeather said Melissa ranked as the third most intense hurricane observed in the Caribbean, after Wilma in 2005 and Gilbert in 1988 - the last major storm to make landfall in Jamaica.
Scientists say hurricanes are intensifying faster with greater frequency as a result of warming ocean waters caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Many Caribbean leaders have called on wealthy, heavy-polluting nations to provide reparations in the form of aid or debt relief to tropical island countries.
Melissa’s winds subsided as the storm drifted past the mountains of Jamaica, lashing highland communities vulnerable to landslides and flooding.
The UK is supporting Jamaica with £2.5 million in emergency humanitarian funding. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described scenes from the country as “truly shocking”.
Naval vessel HMS Trent and “specialist rapid deployment teams” had been “pre-positioned in the region” to provide support.
UK experts are also heading to the region to help co-ordinate and deliver aid.
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was prepared to assist Jamaica’s recovery. The State Department said it would send search-and-rescue teams.
In the Bahamas, next in line after Cuba in Melissa’s path to the northeast, the government ordered evacuations of residents in southern portions of that archipelago.
