Hurricane Melissa victims face new threat as death toll rises again
Crews are still trying to reach more than two dozen communities that remain cut off since Melissa made landfall
The death toll from Hurricane Melissa has risen to 43 in Haiti with 13 others still missing in the country, Haiti’s government said Tuesday.
Crews were still trying to reach people in the country’s southwest region after landslides and floodwaters devastated more than 30 communities.
At least 25 deaths were reported in the southwestern coastal town of Petit-Goâve, one of the hardest hit communities.
The Category 5 storm, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, flooded nearly 12,000 homes and destroyed nearly 200 others after its outer bands battered Haiti last week. Numerous roads remain inaccessible.
The government warned there’s a drinking water shortage in several communities, and that it will soon distribute seeds and tools to farmers facing major agricultural losses.
More than 1,700 people remain in shelters.
Meanwhile, in nearby Jamaica, crews were trying to reach more than two dozen communities that remained cut off since Melissa made landfall on Oct. 28.
The storm killed at least 32 people in Jamaica, with officials warning that number would rise.
Mike Bassett, head of the Christian disaster relief and development organization World Vision International, said a potential humanitarian crisis could unfold if aid is not delivered quickly.
“I have been doing this for over 10 years, and I have never seen anything like this,” Bassett said Tuesday while in Jamaica.
He said that while visiting hurricane-ravaged communities like Chester Castle and Cambridge, people were seen bathing in a river and harvesting its water for drinking because of a lack of electricity and water supply in the hurricane’s aftermath.
World Vision is among a growing list of international aid agencies and volunteers that are working independently and with Jamaican officials to administer aid.
“The relief flights are coming in fast and furious and there is no shortage of supplies,” said Transport and Energy Minister Daryl Vaz, who is the co-chair of the special committee established to streamline the government’s relief and recovery efforts.
Pearnel Charles Jr., who leads Jamaica’s Social Security Ministry, said the relief effort is being ramped up.
“We are coordinating with every available resource,” said Charles, who rejected complaints that not enough was being done to get aid to storm survivors fast enough.