The US State Department says it has sent urban search and rescue personnel headquartered in the US to help in the response to Hurricane Melissa as it tears through Caribbean islands.
Reports say that about 31 people have died in the aftermath of the calamity in the countries.
The department said in a statement on Wednesday that “in response to the catastrophic damage caused by Hurricane Melissa in many Caribbean countries, @StateDept is deploying a regional Disaster Assistance Response Team and activated US-based Urban Search and Rescue teams to bolster response efforts.”
It went on to say, “These teams are working with affected countries and local communities to figure out what help is needed and with partners from other agencies, other countries, and the U.S. military to plan emergency response efforts.”
The UK also stated it was helping the countries by promising to send emergency funding.
“The UK is helping the Caribbean after Hurricane Melissa.”
We have set up an emergency fund of £2.5 million right now and are sending specialists to help communities respond, recover, and rebuild. “We stand with the Caribbean in this moment of crisis,” UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said on X on Wednesday.
CNN reports that at least 25 people have perished in Petit-Goâve, Haiti, after a river that Melissa flooded broke its banks.
Earlier in Haiti, three other people died. In Jamaica, three more people died while getting ready for the hurricane, while one person died in the Dominican Republic.
A minister from Jamaica’s administration claimed that they couldn’t make an official comment about deaths that may have been caused by Hurricane Melissa, which battered the island on Tuesday.
Desmond McKenzie, the Minister for Local Government and Community Development, told reporters on Wednesday that “We have not had alerts of any deaths so far.” So we can’t assume that people have died.
The eye of the hurricane moved over Jamaica’s more rural western parishes, but the storm didn’t hit Kingston, the capital, as hard.
The Associated Press said that individuals were still stuck in some residences that fell down near the port of Petit-Goâve, where 25 people died.
“I am overwhelmed by the situation,” he added, adding that he has asked the authorities for help.
AP said that only one person from the Civil Protection Agency was in the area hit by the storm. In the last few days, locals have been trying to leave as the floodwaters rose.
The National Hurricane Center says that as of 11 a.m. ET, Melissa was centered just off the northern coast of Cuba and had officially entered the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.
When Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica on Tuesday, it was a Category Five storm, the highest level on the scale. Categories five and four frequently cause terrible damage to anything in their way.
CNN also said that the full extent of the devastation in Jamaica is still becoming clear, but officials have said that the country’s infrastructure has been “severely compromised.”
Melissa is currently a Category Two hurricane. It lost some of its intensity while over Cuba, but it is still a powerful storm that is still causing heavy rain and high gusts.
Winds are still hitting certain portions of Cuba, while Melissa’s tropical storm-force winds are starting to reach farther into the Bahamas.
Scientists think that climate change caused by people is making these huge storms happen more often in the area, according to AFP.
“Climate change caused by people is making all of Hurricane Melissa’s worst parts even worse,” said Daniel Gilford, a climate expert.
( Culled from SyndiGate Media Inc. )
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