At least 19 people have died in Jamaica due to Hurricane Melissa, Information Minister Dana Morris Dixon said. Search and rescue efforts continue and authorities are trying to get relief to hard-hit areas.
At least 30 people have died in Haiti in the strongest hurricane to ever hit the Caribbean, officials said.
In Jamaica, “whole communities seem to be isolated and areas have been flattened,” Dixon said. He added that there were “devastating” scenes in the western region.
Much of the island is without electricity, leaving thousands desperate for help as people try to salvage homes and belongings damaged by floods and mud.
Some areas have been without water for days and food is becoming increasingly scarce.
With the main airport in Jamaica’s capital Kingston largely back to normal, relief supplies are starting to arrive more quickly.
However, small regional airports located near areas most in need of humanitarian assistance are only partially operational.
So aid agencies and the military are bringing urgently needed supplies from Kingston by road, many of which are still impassable.
Satellite images show that almost all buildings in some Jamaican towns were destroyed by the hurricane.
Residents of a western Jamaican village told the BBC on Thursday that words could not describe how devastating the storm was for the country.
“No one can contact their loved ones,” Trevor ‘Zyanigh’ Whyte told the BBC at Westmoreland Parish White House.
“Everyone is completely cut off… You can’t go too far by car, let alone by bike, because all the trees are in the road,” he said.
In Haiti, many victims of the storm died as the river in Petit-Goave overflowed. A full assessment is underway as there are still areas inaccessible to authorities.
Gregoire Goodstein, the UN interim coordinator for Haiti, said about 15,000 people were staying in more than 120 shelters in the country.
The hurricane left more than 3 million people in Cuba “exposed to life-threatening situations” and 735,000 “evacuated to safety,” according to Francisco Pichon, the UN resident coordinator in Cuba.
No deaths have been reported in Cuba so far, but nearly 240 communities have been shut down due to flooding and landslides, Cuban authorities said.
Hurricane Melissa has impacted other countries in the Caribbean after making landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category 5 storm with winds of up to 295 kilometers per hour (185 mph).
Governments, humanitarian organizations and individuals around the world are pledging support to the countries hardest hit by the storm.
The World Food Program (WFP) said it was working with partners to coordinate logistics, cash and emergency supplies across Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
The State Department said it would deploy disaster response teams to the region to assist with search and rescue operations and support efforts to provide food, water, medicine, hygiene kits and temporary shelter.
The British government said it would send 2.5 million pounds ($3.36 million) in emergency humanitarian funding to support recovery in the Caribbean region.
While Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti assessed the damage left in Melissa’s wake, Bermuda braced for impact.
The Bermuda Meteorological Service forecast Melissa to become a Category 2 hurricane when it passes the British Overseas Territory on Thursday night.
Bermuda’s government offices will be closed until Friday afternoon and all schools will be closed on Friday.
“Until an official ‘All Clear’ order is issued, residents are urged to stay off the roads to allow government work crews to safely assess and remove debris,” the government said.
