The death toll from Hurricane Melissa has reached 49 as the storm continues to tear through the Caribbean, heading past Bermuda, while workers in Jamaica ramp up efforts to clear roads and reach isolated areas. In Haiti, the death toll has risen to 30, with another 20 missing and 20 injured, according to the civil defence agency. Laurent Saint-Cyr, head of Haiti's transitional presidential council, described it as a sad moment for the country.
In Jamaica, the death toll rose to 19, but search and rescue efforts are ongoing, said Information Minister Dana Morris Dixon. The island was hit first and hardest when Melissa made landfall on Tuesday, becoming the strongest hurricane since records began in 1851, with sustained winds of 185mph. The devastation is enormous, according to Transport Minister Daryl Vaz, with some towns underwater and power lines and mobile network towers down in much of the south-west.
Tropical storm conditions were occurring on Bermuda late on Thursday as the category 2 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 100mph, moved past the western side of the territory. The storm is moving north-east at 38mph. Residents remained calm as the storm was expected to give the island a wide berth. Authorities closed the causeway on Thursday night and shut schools and ferries on Friday out of an abundance of caution.
Kingston, Jamaica's capital, was spared the worst damage, and the main international airport has reopened to allow flights carrying critical aid to land. The British government said it was chartering flights for British nationals unable to fly home commercially. In eastern Cuba, authorities evacuated about 735,000 people as the storm approached, with no deaths reported. Across the Bahamas, the government flew out nearly 1,500 people in one of its largest evacuation operations.
Hurricane Melissa has been intensely destructive, estimated to have caused billions of dollars, but accurate forecasting and government advice meant many people who reached shelters were protected. The storm is expected to significantly weaken on Friday.
