The death toll from Hurricane Melissa has entered double digits, as the powerful storm nears the Bahamas after leaving a trail of “catastrophic” destruction across Jamaica and parts of Cuba.
Authorities in Haiti said that at least 40 people, including children, had died after a river burst its banks in the costal town of Petit-Goâve. At least eight people are believed to have been killed in Jamaica, as well as one in the Dominican Republic.
Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated to shelters ahead of the arrival of the “extremely dangerous” storm, with a hurricane warning put in place for Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, as well as the southeastern and central Bahamas, among other places.
In Jamaica, the storm knocked out power to 70 percent of the island, officials said.
Despite being initially classed as a Category 5 and one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, Melissa has now been downgraded to a Category 2 storm, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
National Hurricane Center Director Dr Michael Brennan said Wednesday morning that Melissa will reach the Bahamas by later in the day, but noted that the system’s increasing forward speed would pull it away from the islands by Thursday.
