BREAKING: Four Confirmed Dead in Jamaica as Hurricane Melissa Batters the Caribbean

Image source,Reuters

Hurricane Melissa has continued its devastating sweep across the Caribbean, destroying homes and infrastructure, flooding neighbourhoods and leaving dozens dead.

The impact in Jamaica was clearer on Wednesday, after the island nation was targeted squarely by the category five monster – one of the most powerful hurricanes ever measured in the region. At least four people have been confirmed dead there.

At least another 20 people died during flooding in Haiti as Melissa, now a category one storm, tore through the region. The storm is now crossing The Bahamas, with Bermuda next in line.

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the damage is “heartbreaking”, and one town he toured had been “completely destroyed”. But he added that the spirit of the population “remains unbroken”.

We’re closing our live coverage of the storm, but you can keep up to date through our news story.

American Airlines will resume flights from Miami to Kingston on Thursday morning

Jamaican Transport minister Daryl Vaz says the airline will operate four flights: one bringing humanitarian relief materials and the remaining three bringing passengers to the island.

A US Air Force Reserve hurricane hunting plane has tracked the centre of the storm as it crosses The Bahamas.

The latest from the US National Hurricane Centre has the eye of the storm just between Long Island and Rum Cay Island.

The sustained wind speed is about 90mph (150km/h), making it a category one storm.

The hurricane will continue to travel northwards towards Bermuda, where it is expected to hit on Thursday night.

We know that the damage caused to Jamaica by Hurricane Melissa is extreme – and the economic cost is likely to be as well.

Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at weather information firm AccuWeather, thinks the total damage and economic loss to the Caribbean island could be as much as $22bn (£16.6bn).

“It’s important to point out that the GDP, the gross domestic product, the output of the Jamaica economy is around $20bn per year. So you can see that it’s already over one year’s worth of GDP,” he says.

“That shows the economic challenges that people in Jamaica are going to be facing.”

Image source,IOM/X

As the recovery response gets under way in Jamaica, the UN’s Migration Agency (IOM) has announced its shipping supplies from Barbados to the stricken island.

“IOM stands ready, partnering with Govt & UN to deliver emergency shelter, non-food items, & hope,” a post on X says.

Image source,X/Daryl Vaz

Jamaica’s Transport Minister Daryl Vaz has announced the reopening of some airports as the island seeks to reestablish connections with the rest of the world.

The Norman Manley International Airport in the capital Kingston is reopening for humanitarian relief flights only. Commercial flights will resume on Thursday morning. It comes after Vaz and other officials toured the airport and found no significant damage.

The Ian Fleming International Airport, which serves the popular resort town of Ocho Rios, will reopen for commercial flights on Thursday morning.

The Sangster International Airport, which serves badly hit Montego Bay, will reopen mid-morning on Thursday for relief flights only, with commercial flights to restart at a yet-to-be-determined time later.

Image source,Andrew Holness/X

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness has been touring parts of the country today to survey the extent of the damage.

A little earlier, he told the BBC the town of Black River “has literally been totally destroyed”.

In his latest update, he says he has concluded a tour of St Elizabeth – he adds that the devastation is “truly heartbreaking” but that the spirit of the people “remains unbroken”.

Image source,Reuters

Hurricane Melissa has caused devastating flooding in Haiti, leading to at least 20 deaths on the island.

Many homes have been washed away in the floodwaters and people have been clearing debris with their bare hands, Pascal Bimenyimana from the World Relief NGO says.

Image source,Reuters

Image source,Reuters

Image source,Reuters

These new images show some of the destruction in Jamaica that Hurricane Melissa has left in its wake.

The photos below were taken in Lacovia – which is in St Elizabeth parish, where officials have recently confirmed four people died.

Image source,Reuters

Image source,Reuters

Image source,Reuters

Image source,Reuters

Hurricane Melissa is now a category one storm, with maximum wind speeds of 90mph (145km/h). It is expected to move across the south east or central Bahamas in the next few hours and then move to the west of Bermuda late on Thursday.

Cuba and Haiti have discontinued their hurricane warnings and tropical storm warnings. Meanwhile, a hurricane warning is currently in effect for The Bahamas and Bermuda while a tropical storm warning is in effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The Bahamas’ Disaster Management Authority is warning residents of violent winds, heavy rainfall, coastal and inland flooding, and dangerous seas through tonight. The southeast Bahamas could get up to 10 inches (25cm) of rainfall and up to a 7-foot (2m) storm surge, the US National Hurricane Center says.

In preparation, Bahamian authorities began evacuating hundreds of residents from the southeast on Monday.

For Arlene Wright, the scariest thing right now is the repeated unanswered calls to her 76-year-old aunt who lives alone in Black River, Jamaica, a town the prime minister has just described to the BBC as “totally destroyed”.

“I haven’t heard from her, and it’s very worrying,” Wright says. The last words Wright heard from her on Tuesday morning were “the wind is picking up”, then the phone call was cut off.

“I called back, and I continue to call back and I haven’t heard anything,” Wright says. Since then, some of the worst scenes of Hurricane Melissa’s destruction have begun circulating online, images of Black River’s police station and hospital battered by debris and overrun with water. It’s amplifying Wright’s anxiety.

She has since created a WhatsApp group with all her aunt’s relatives in hopes of receiving an update. She also posted a comment with her aunt’s name – Nursey Wright – on Facebook, so that others outside of the family could contact her if they hear anything.

But so far it’s been silence. “I know something is not right,” she says.

“I’m very worried.”

Image source,AFP via Getty Images

Since making landfall in Cuba early this morning, Hurricane Melissa has wreaked havoc on the island.

The storm brought 115mph (185km/h) winds and heavy rain to Cuba, flooding streets, knocking down trees, breaking windows and doors, damaging buildings, and disconnecting parts of the country from the power grid.

Cuban authorities are reporting widespread flooding in lowland areas – which they warn will severely impact winter crops – as well as power shutdowns across almost all of eastern Cuba, Reuters reported.

More than 735,000 residents were evacuated in Cuba ahead of Melissa’s landfall, the country’s president Miguel Díaz-Canel said on Tuesday.

Díaz-Canel says the storm has caused “considerable damage”.

“I ask our people not to let their guard down,” Díaz-Canel says in a post on X.

Melissa has passed over Cuba now and is headed toward the Bahamas, but winds continue to blow at dangerous speeds of 100mph on the island.

Image source,AFP via Getty Images

The US is sending a disaster response team to Jamaica to assess the scale of need in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.

Senior State Department officials say formal requests for help have also come from Haiti, which will be managed from the Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas – which has requested air support.

The officials say a team of US experts in water sanitation, food assistance and shelter was on its way to Jamaica and would be on the ground in the next 24 hours to assess needs, with supplies then following. They added that two search and rescue teams based in California and Virginia had been “activated” for the region and they were “trying to get them in as soon as we can”.

The deployments come in the wake of the Trump administration’s closure of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which was the world’s biggest aid agency, amid cuts to foreign assistance by billions of dollars.

A staff of some 800 people trained in disaster relief has been cut to about 100 who now work within the State Department.

It has led to concerns among some former officials that the response to Hurricane Melissa will be significantly slower and less well prepared than those to previous natural disasters. Asked about the concerns, senior officials said they were confident in their ability to launch a “robust” response.

A Jamaican official has confirmed the first deaths in the country as a result of the hurricane.

Desmond McKenzie, Jamaica’s minister of Local Government and Community Development has issued an update saying four people have died in the St Elizabeth area.

In a statement, he says: “I am saddened to announce that four persons – three men and one woman – have been confirmed dead by the police in St. Elizabeth.

“They were discovered after being washed up by the flood waters generated by the hurricane.”

00:41

Serious damage and total devastation – that’s how Jamaica’s PM Andrew Holness has described the south east and south west of the island after taking an aerial tour.

He tells BBC News as Hurricane Melissa unleashed its trail of destruction, it destroyed hospitals in its path, sheared off between 80-90% of roofs, wrecked police stations and libraries and razed local intrastructure.

Parishes including Saint Elizabeth, Hanover, Saint James, and parts of Manchester have been severely impacted, Holness says. The town of Black River “has literally been totally destroyed”.

For now, the focus is getting electricity and telecoms up and running again Holness says. It might take days or, for the worse hit, weeks.

But the PM says Jamaica is resilient and will recover.

The western part of Jamaica has been the hardest-hit area of the island, after Hurricane Melissa barrelled through on Tuesday.

01:02

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness has just provided an update from St Elizabeth parish, where he says there are “images of destruction all around”.

“The damage is great, but we are going to devote all our energy to mount a strong recovery,” he says.

Holness says he’s doing an aerial tour of the worst affected areas to get a sense of the damage.

“We are acting quickly to assess the damage and bring relief,” he said in a separate post on X.

00:46