Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica, Cuba LIVE News Updates: Hurricane Melissa, which made its landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday with a sustained wind speed of 185 mph and a Category 5 storm, became the strongest storm to hit the Caribbean island since records were first kept 174 years ago. In southwestern Jamaica, the parish of St. Elizabeth has gone “underwater”. The hurricane has now hit Cuba.
Rescue efforts in Jamaica after record storm: Floodwaters submerged the streets of Kingston and several other towns in Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa made landfall in the Caribbean island. At least three families were stuck in their home amid flood in the community of Black River in western Jamaica. Due to dangerous conditions, emergency crews were unable to rescue them. Extensive damage was reported in the southwestern parish of St. Elizabeth, which according to Jamaica’s minister, “is underwater” Jamaica has been declared a ‘disaster area’ by its PM after seven deaths were confirmed.
Tracking Melissa: Hurricane Melissa, which had earlier weakened to a Category 3 storm, has made landfall along the southern coast of eastern Cuba, confirmed the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Hurricane Melissa has hit the south-east of Cuba and is expected to move towards Bahamas and Bermuda with a weaker intensity. To the east of Cuba, in Haiti, people have begun to seek shelters. Track Hurricane Melissa's path here.
Hurricane Melissa has made landfall along the southern coast of eastern Cuba, said the National Hurricane Center of US. It is now a category 3 storm.
US President, Donald Trump said that the US will provide disaster aid to help Jamaica, reported AP.
Hurricane Melissa has caused significant damage to residential and commercial properties in Jamaica. Prime Minister, Andrew Holness has declared the island nation a 'disaster area', reported CNN. A total of 7 deaths has been confirmed so far.
Hurricane Melissa is approaching Cuba soon. Melissa, which has weakened to a category 3 storm, will make landfall in Cuba soon, reported BBC. It will move across the Bahamas and pass by Bermuda, too.
To mobilise support in response to the damage caused by hurricane Melissa in Jamaica, the Government has launched a website to gather donations for relief, reported BBC. It has also urged the public to be careful of any other entities asking for similar sort of donations.
Close to 25,000 tourists are still present in Jamaica as the Caribbean island was battered with Hurricane Melissa which sustained a wind speed of 185 mph during its landfall.
"The Ministry of Tourism has its centre that is in constant communication with all of the hotels, has been providing support and so we are keeping those tourists as safe as we possibly can," Dana Morris Dixon, Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information said in a statement, CNN reported.
US President Donald Trump, who has reached South Korea as part of his Asia trip, said on Wednesday that America is keeping a close watch on the developments in Jamaica and is prepared to aid the Caribbean island for the damage inflicted and in its recovery.
"On a humanitarian basis, we have to. So we’re watching it closely and we’re prepared to move. But it’s doing tremendous damage," Trump told reporters aboard the Air Force One, CNN reported. The US president further added, "It’s literally just…knocking down everything in front of it."
Hurricane Melissa is sustaining a wind speed of 130 mph as it barrels towards eastern Cuba with an expected landfall early on Wednesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center's latest advisory notice.
As Hurricane Melissa wreaked havoc in Jamaica, internet outages dropped to 30% level in the Caribbean island on late Tuesday following the impact of the storm, as per internet monitoring organization NetBlocks, CNN reported.
The storm, which sustained a wind speed of 185 mph during its landfall in the Caribbean island, damaged power and communications infrastructure, cutting off many parts of the country.
Hurricane Melissa churned toward Cuba's second-largest city with the force of a powerful Category 4 storm on Tuesday, hours after making landfall in neighboring Jamaica as the strongest-ever cyclone on record to hit that Caribbean island nation.
Melissa roared ashore near Jamaica's southwestern town of New Hope, packing sustained winds of up to 185 mph (295 kph), according to the US National Hurricane Center, well above the minimum 157 mph (252 kph) wind speed of a Category 5 storm, the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.
In southwestern Jamaica, the parish of St. Elizabeth was left "underwater," an official said, with more than 500,000 residents without power.
"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," Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness said on CNN after the storm had passed.
Holness said the government had not received any confirmed storm-related fatalities, but given the strength of the hurricane and the extent of the damage, "we are expecting that there would be some loss of life."
- Reuters
Hurricane Melissa is now among the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record. The monster storm strengthened Tuesday before hitting Jamaica, bringing with it maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph).
It’s the strongest Atlantic hurricane to make landfall since Hurricane Dorian battered the Bahamas in 2019.
Hurricane Melissa, which wreaked havoc in Jamaica with a sustained wind speed of 185 mph, is now a Category 4 storm and it is moving towards eastern region of Cuba. The National Hurricane Center has said that the storm could make a landfall in Cuba early on Wednesday, CNN reported.
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