It will likely take days to assess the full scope of damage from Hurricane Melissa. Many Caribbean communities are cut off by floodwaters, landslides and debris-covered roadways. (Image credit: Sajid/Adobe Stock)
(Bloomberg) — Hurricane Melissa is barreling northeast toward the Bahamas, after leaving a trail of destruction across Jamaica and the eastern side of Cuba.
Powerful winds ripped the roofs from homes and other buildings, stripping some to the studs. City streets and airports have flooded, halting aid flights and stranding roughly 25,000 tourists in Jamaica. Commercial flights there may not resume until the weekend, officials told local media, though planes carrying emergency supplies may be cleared to land as soon as Thursday.
Melissa was still packing sustained winds of 100 miles (161 kilometers) per hour midday Wednesday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It’s on track to reach the Bahamas by Wednesday afternoon. The storm will likely inflict structural damage and take down trees and power lines across the islands, said Adam Douty, a senior forecaster at AccuWeather.
“The impact across the Bahamas may be overshadowed to some extent by what’s happened so far, but it’s going to be fairly significant,” Douty said.
Melissa made landfall in Cuba in the early hours of the morning as a Category 3 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, weakening to Category 2 as it moved across rugged terrain.
The hurricane has dumped torrential rain on the island, unleashing landslides and flooding in the nation’s second-largest city, according to state newspaper Granma. The Charco Mono Dam, which supplies water to Santiago de Cuba, was also reportedly overflowing, and authorities were working to rescue residents trapped by floodwaters.
On Tuesday, Melissa became the strongest recorded storm to hit Jamaica.
Jamaican authorities described scenes of intense destruction, including blackouts over almost 80% of the country, blocked and flooded roads as well as hospitals that were completely devastated.
“Our shelters have seen more than 25,000 Jamaicans and since last night more persons have been going into the shelters,” Desmond McKenzie, minister of local government and rural development, said in a briefing Wednesday morning. “It’s not going to be an easy road, Jamaica.”
Property intelligence firm Cotality estimates damages in Jamaica will total between $5 billion and $10 billion. Insurance coverage varies widely across the country and between sectors, said Firas Saleh, a director of insurance solutions at Moody’s. While hotels tend to carry significant coverage, many local businesses do not — and less than 10% of single-family Jamaican homes are insured, he said.
“These gaps leave many households and businesses vulnerable to severe financial and social disruption from Hurricane Melissa,” Saleh said.
Despite Melissa’s strength and the destruction wrought across Jamaica, Douty said the island was spared an “absolute worst-case scenario” in dodging a direct hit on its capital and largest city, Kingston.
As aid groups begin to mobilize, Jamaica’s Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management has made a broad appeal for supplies — including 100,000 mattresses and pillows to stock emergency shelters and more than 5,000 chainsaws to begin clearing debris.
The U.S. State Department said in an X post that search-and-rescue teams and regional disaster specialists are moving to help coordinate the response across the Caribbean.
The UK pre-positioned a Royal Navy ship and specialist rapid deployment teams in the region prior to Melissa’s landfall and stands ready to offer Jamaica Britain’s “full support,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the House of Commons on Wednesday.
“The scenes of destruction emerging from Jamaica are truly shocking,” he said.
Bermuda’s meteorological service has issued a hurricane warning, with Melissa expected to track west of the island Thursday. The storm will likely degrade into an extra-tropical cyclone late Friday or early Saturday, according to the US hurricane center.
See also:
- The U.S. saw a record $101B in weather losses through June
- Alaska floods could keep evacuees away for 18 months
- Global insured CAT losses top $100B for sixth year in a row
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