Port-au-Prince [Haiti], October 30 : At least 25 people were killed in southern Haiti after a river burst its banks due to heavy rainfall triggered by Hurricane Melissa, CNN reported, citing local authorities.
CNN reports indicate that only one official from Haiti's Civil Protection Agency was present in the affected area, while residents worked to evacuate themselves as floodwaters surged in recent days. The region has been battered by Melissa's torrential rains for the past week, with estimated rainfall exceeding 12 inches (30 cm).
Meanwhile, authorities in Jamaica have recovered four bodies in the storm-hit St. Elizabeth Parish following the passage of Hurricane Melissa, a government source told CNN. Recovery and restoration operations are underway across the island.
Jamaica Public Service, the country's main power utility, announced that it is conducting a damage assessment of the electric grid as a "critical first step" in restoration efforts. "This gives us all the information we need to restore power in the safest and quickest way," the company said in a post on X. Approximately 77% of Jamaica currently remains without electricity, a government spokesperson said.
Officials added that the nation's electric grid was already under pressure before the storm made landfall, CNN reported.
Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica on Tuesday as a powerful Category 5 storm the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson scale causing catastrophic destruction and severely compromising the country's infrastructure. The full extent of damage is still being assessed.
The storm later made landfall in Cuba early Monday morning as a Category 3 hurricane, inflicting what officials described as "significant" damage.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Melissa has weakened to a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of around 100 mph, according to the US National Hurricane Centre. The storm is currently centered between Cuba and the Bahamas and is expected to move near or over Long Island and Crooked Island in the Bahamas later in the day, CNN reported
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