Hurricane Melissa smashed through the northern Caribbean and was seen picking up speed as it churned across open ocean towards Bermuda yesterday, leaving a trail of high winds and destruction from Jamaica to Cuba and Haiti in its wake.
People across the Bahamas and nearby Turks and Caicos hunkered down as the passing storm pummelled them with dangerous gusts and rain. Around 970km northeast of the storm’s last position, Bermudans prepared for its approach.
Authorities across the region, struggling to keep track of the devastation, confirmed 25 deaths in Haiti – 10 of them children – and four in Jamaica.
As of 1200 GMT, Melissa was packing winds of close to 165kmph, according to the US National Hurricane Centre, downgraded from its peak to a Category 2 hurricane.
It was expected to keep accelerating northeastward and ‘pass to the northwest of Bermuda’ early today, before likely weakening, the Florida-based forecaster said.
Bermuda will close its causeway and all schools and ferries among other measures ‘out of an abundance of caution’, National Security Minister Michael Weeks said in a statement.
“I implore all residents to remain vigilant while we navigate another natural threat to our way of life,” he said. People should check on their neighbours and stay off roads until further notice, he added.
Melissa struck Jamaica on Tuesday as the strongest-ever hurricane to directly hit its shores, with sustained winds of 290kmph, far above the minimum strength for a Category 5, the strongest classification for hurricanes.
In a neighbourhood of the island’s Montego Bay, 77-year-old Alfred Hines waded barefoot through thick mud and debris as he described his narrow escape from the rising floodwaters.
“At one stage, I see the water at my waist and (after) about 10 minutes time, I see it around my neck here and I make my escape,” he told Reuters.
“I just want to forget it and things come back to normal.”
The capital Kingston was spared the worst damage and its main airport was set to reopen soon.
But US forecaster AccuWeather estimated Melissa could cost $22 billion in damages and economic loss and that rebuilding could take a decade or more.
“Devastation,” read the front page headline on yesterday’s Jamaica Observer newspaper.
Melissa was the Caribbean’s third-most intense recorded hurricane, as well as its slowest-moving, which made it particularly destructive, AccuWeather said.
&uuid=(email))