Hurricane Melissa | Pakistan

Jamaican officials announced plans on Saturday to set up multiple field hospitals as it recovers from Hurricane Melissa, with the death toll numbering at least 50 across the Caribbean — and expected to rise. The island’s confirmed deaths remain at 19 as of Saturday, though Health Minister Christopher Tufton told a briefing, “I would imagine it’s more… because there are still places that we have had difficulties reaching.” Haiti’s Civil Protection department, meanwhile, said at least 31 people have been killed there as a result of the storm. Melissa tore across Jamaica as a ferocious top-level Category 5 hurricane, the most powerful storm ever recorded on the island, with sustained winds peaking at 185 miles (nearly 300 kilometers) per hour while drenching the country with torrential rain. Hospitals in western Jamaica were particularly hard-hit, prompting officials to deploy several field hospitals in the coming days to shore up health responses. The first such field hospital — in Black River, the capital of t...

Hurricane Melissa smashed through the northern Caribbean and was seen picking up speed as it churned across open ocean towards Bermuda on Thursday, 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 600 miles (970 km) northeast of the storm’s last position, Bermudans prepared for its approach, expected by the evening. 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 (5pm PKT) Melissa was packing winds of close to 105 miles per hour (165 kph), according to the US National Hurricane Centre, downgraded from its peak to a Category 2 hurricane. Wading barefoot through mud It was expected to keep accelerating northeastward and “pass to the northwest of Bermuda” later on Thursday, before likely weakening on Friday, the Flori...

Hurricane Melissa unleashed devastation in Jamaica as the strongest storm on record ever to hit the Caribbean island nation, and roared later on Wednesday into eastern Cuba, smashing the city of Santiago and flooding rural land. A Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 185 miles per hour when it barrelled into Jamaica, Melissa had been downgraded to a still dangerous Category 3 when it hit Cuba with sustained winds of 120mph, the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said. “Life-threatening storm surge, flash flooding and landslides, and damaging hurricane winds are ongoing this morning,” the centre said. The historic storm blasted western Jamaica, demolishing homes, knocking down swathes of trees and washing out roadways. Authorities did not yet release details of fatalities but said they expected loss of life. Eyewitness reports and videos on social media from Jamaica showed vehicles destroyed by flying debris, hotel doors blown off hinges and roofs scattered across neighborhoods. Video of the airport in Mon...