SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (AP) — People across the northern Caribbean dug out the remains of Hurricane Melissa's devastation Thursday as the death toll from the catastrophic storm mounted.
The rumble of big machinery, the whine of chainsaws and the slashing of machetes echoed across southeastern Jamaica as government workers and residents began clearing roads, racing to reach isolated communities hit by one of the worst Atlantic storms on record.
Stunned residents wandered around, some looking at their roofless homes and flooded belongings strewn around them.
“I don't have a home right now,” said a frustrated Sylvester Guthrie, a resident of Lacovia in southern St. Elizabeth Parish, holding on to his bicycle, the only valuable possession left after the storm.
“I have land elsewhere that I can restore, but I will need help,” the sanitation worker pleaded.
Emergency flights began landing at Jamaica's main international airport, which reopened late Wednesday as crews handed out water, food and other essentials.
“The devastation is enormous,” Jamaican Transport Minister Daryl Vaz said.
Some Jamaicans wondered where they would live.
“I'm homeless right now, but I have to have hope because I have a life,” said Cheryl Smith, who lost the roof of her home.
Authorities said they had found at least four bodies in southwest Jamaica.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness said up to 90% of roofs in the southwestern coastal village of Black River had been destroyed.
“Black River is what you might call ground zero,” he said. “People are still struggling with the destruction.”
More than 25,000 people remained huddled in shelters in the western half of Jamaica, with 77% of the island without power.
Death and flood in Haiti
Melissa also triggered catastrophic flooding in Haiti, where at least 25 people were reported dead and another 18 missing, mostly in the southern region of the country.
Stephen Guadar, who lives in Petit Goave, said Melissa killed his entire family.
“I had four children at home: a month-old, a seven-year-old, an eight-year-old and another who was about to turn four,” he said.
Haiti's civil protection agency said Hurricane Melissa killed at least 20 people in Petit Goave, including 10 children. It also damaged more than 160 houses and destroyed another 80.
Officials have warned that 152 people with disabilities in Haiti's southern region are in need of emergency food assistance. More than 11,600 people remained sheltered in Haiti due to the hurricane.
Slow recovery in Cuba
Meanwhile in Cuba, people began clearing blocked roads and highways with heavy equipment and even enlisted the help of the military to rescue people stranded in isolated communities at risk of landslides.
There were no reports of deaths after Civil Defense evacuated more than 735,000 people in eastern Cuba. They slowly began to return home.
“We are cleaning the streets, clearing the way,” said Yaima Almenares, a physical education teacher in the city of Santiago, as she and other neighbors swept branches and debris from sidewalks and avenues, cutting down fallen tree trunks and clearing away accumulated debris.
In more rural areas outside the city of Santiago de Cuba, water continued to accumulate in vulnerable homes Wednesday evening as residents returned from their shelters to salvage the beds, mattresses, chairs, tables and fans they had raised ahead of the storm.
A televised civil defense meeting chaired by President Miguel Diaz-Canel did not provide an official assessment of the damage. However, officials from the affected provinces – Santiago, Granma, Holguin, Guantanamo and Las Tunas – reported losses of roofs, power lines, fiber optic telecommunications cables, cut roads, isolated settlements and losses of banana, cassava and coffee plantations.
Officials said the rains benefited reservoirs and eased severe drought in eastern Cuba.
Many settlements were still without electricity, Internet and telephone communications due to failed transformers and power lines.
Historical storm
When Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane with winds of 185 mph (295 kph), it set strength records for Atlantic hurricane landfall in both wind speed and barometric pressure. The hurricane was still a Category 3 hurricane when it struck eastern Cuba again early Wednesday.
A hurricane warning remains in effect late Wednesday for the southeastern and central Bahamas and Bermuda.
The storm was expected to last overnight in the southeastern Bahamas, where dozens of people were evacuated.
Melissa was a Category 2 hurricane with strong sustained winds of about 100 mph (155 kph) late Wednesday and moving north-northeast at 21 mph (33 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The hurricane was located about 105 miles (170 km) east-northeast of the central Bahamas and about 800 miles (1,285 km) southwest of Bermuda.
Melissa is forecast to pass near or west of Bermuda late Thursday and could strengthen further before weakening.
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Connected to Puerto Rico.
