970x125
Jamaica was so badly battered by Hurricane Melissa that officials still have no idea how many people died, government officials grimly admitted — with just four deaths confirmed on Wednesday.
The island nation’s government “is not in a position to make an official statement on deaths,” Minister for Local Government and Community Development Desmond McKenzie told reporters Wednesday.
“We have not had alerts of any deaths so far. So we cannot presume that there are deaths,” he added.
The shocking situation comes after swaths of Jamaica’s infrastructure — from roads and bridges, to power lines and basic internet connections — were destroyed when the Cat. 5 mega-storm crashed into the island with 185 mph winds Tuesday morning.
Complicating the issue is the concentration of Melissa’s landfall: the storm’s eye cut a jagged line through the heart of Jamaica’s western territory, which is more rural, remote and difficult to access even on a sunny day — let alone hours after the strongest storm in Jamaican history tore through.
That’s made it difficult for officials on the island of 2.8 million to get in and provide help, and for word to get out about what’s happened.
The hardest hit location appears to be the town of Black River and the surrounding St. Elizabeth Parish, where Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the “entire infrastructure” was destroyed after travelling to the wrecked community Wednesday.
Upwards of 90% of the homes in Black River lost their roofs, Holness estimated, while the hospital and countless buildings have been almost completely destroyed.
And it was in St. Elizabeth where the four bodies were found, with two discovered flooding in Black River and two more in nearby Galleon Beach, according to CNN.
Black River Mayor Richard Solomon said the town’s relief supplies and vehicles were also completely “wiped out,” leaving officials to unable organize any help at all.
“The conditions here are devastating, catastrophic is a mild term based on what we are observing,” the mayor said in a video posted to X.
“The hospital is totally devastated,” he added, explaining local police communications, vehicles and emergency response centers had also been left completely derelict.
“We’re unable to do any rescuing. We’re unable to respond. So we are trying to let everybody know that the situation here is devastating,” Solomon said. “We need all the help that we can and conditions are going to deteriorate as the day progresses because persons are feeling it already.”
Melissa crashed on to Cuba Wednesday and brought devastation across the southern half of the island as a Cat. 3, then moved across the Bahamas as a Cat. 2 before heading out to sea.
At least 25 deaths have been confirmed in Haiti after the storms outer bands caused flooding, while one has died in the Dominican Republic.
Florida and the US miraculously experienced no adverse effects, despite Melissa being one of the strongest hurricanes in history to pass through the Gulf.
