Entire towns have been left underwater as the ‘storm of the century’ battered Jamaica this week.
It’s reported that around 25,000 tourists are trapped on the Caribbean island, with Hurricane Melissa found to be one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes in history.
And as people are ordered to stay inside, there are said to be as many as 8,000 Brits trapped in the country.
The world’s strongest storm of the year so far, it is now set to hit Cuba as a Category 3 – having been flipping between that and Category 4.
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The US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) warned this morning (29 October) that the storm would make landfall there as an ‘extremely dangerous major hurricane’.
In Jamaica, Prime Minister Andrew Holness has declared the island as a ‘disaster area’ with about 15,000 locals in shelters, as well as up to 530,000 people being left without power.
Take a look at some horrific footage of the devastation caused by the storm so far:
Taking to X, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez said over 735,000 people across the country had been evacuated as the storm approached.
The storm had hit south-western Jamaica with sustained winds of 185mph as the NHC said Melissa was ‘one of the most powerful hurricane landfalls on record in the Atlantic basin’.
Leaving ‘catastrophic winds’ and ‘flash flooding’ in its wake, officials in Kingston warned people to watch out for crocodiles that may have been displaced. It’s reported that seven people have already lost their lives across the region (three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic).
Floods swept the region with wind tearing roofs off buildings and boulders tumbled into roads, with landslides, fallen trees and numerous power outages reported.
Director of the NHC, Mike Brennan, told BBC News, that even after the storm passed over the island: “Flooding risk, and just the post-storm environment in Jamaica, is going to be extremely dangerous with widespread trees and power lines down, significant structural damage.”
The Jamaican government previously ordered evacuations from areas of a high risk and all of the country’s airports have been closed.
Speaking in the Commons, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The FCDO stands ready to help British nationals 24/7. We have set up a crisis centre in the Foreign Office, including with support from the (Ministry of Defence), and also we are positioning specialist rapid deployment teams to provide consular assistance to British nationals in the region.
“Any British nationals who are there should follow our travel advice and the advice of the Jamaican authorities. There are 50,000 dual nationals who live in Jamaica, up to 8,000 British citizens who may be travelling there or may be on holiday there.”
An FCDO spokesperson said: “We understand how worrying developments in Jamaica are for British nationals and their families.
“Our travel advice includes information about hurricane season, which runs from June to November. Last Thursday we updated our travel advice for Jamaica to include a warning about Tropical Storm Melissa and that it was expected to intensify over the coming days.
“The safety and security of British nationals is our top priority, and that is why we are urging any British nationals in Jamaica to follow the guidance of the local authorities.”
Topics: Weather, World News
Jess Battison