The death toll in the floods caused by the Hurricane Melissa in Haiti increased to 20among them ten children, reported the Civil Protection authorities, who are looking for at least ten missing people.
The overflow of La Digue River destroyed several houses in the coastal town of Petit-Goâve in the south of the country, residents reported. According to the general director of Civil Protection, Emmanuel Pierresearches continue to find the missing.
Around the World Newsletter
He Hurricane Melissa caused this Wednesday “extensive damage” and floods in Cubaaccording to the government, after devastating Jamaica as the most powerful storm to make landfall in 90 years.
After passing through Jamaica on Tuesday as a category 5 hurricane with violent gusts and torrential rains, Melissa It made landfall in eastern Cuba on Wednesday with slightly less force and maximum sustained winds of 195 km/h.
The storm has so far caused around twenty deaths in the region: Haiti reported this Wednesday another 20 deaths, which brings the total in the country to 23three people died in Jamaica, three in Panama and one in Dominican Republic.
“It has been a very complex morning. Extensive damage, and Hurricane #Melisa is still over Cuban territory”, the president reported on Wednesday Miguel Diaz-Canelin his first assessment of the situation.
In Santiago de Cubathe second most important city on the island, in the east, the storm flooded houses and streets and knocked down trees, poles and power lines, an AFP journalist confirmed.
The storm also broke windows, panels and other structures of a hotel where journalists are staying, who were still inside the building due to the strong winds.
Cuban authorities reported that some 735,000 people were evacuated, especially in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Holguin and Guantanamo.
“A house collapsed in Mariana de la Torre, please, my God.“said a resident of Santiago de Cuba in a Facebook message. “We are all flooding here”, warned another Santiago resident on the same social network.
In Haiti, which closed its schools, businesses and administrations this Wednesday, ten inhabitants of the southern city of Petit-Goave were swept away by the La Digue River, overflowing by the passage of the hurricane.
MORE INFORMATION: Floods and landslides in eastern Cuba due to the passage of powerful Hurricane Melissa
Local authorities reported having found a dozen bodies and were still searching for an unknown number of missing people.
The storm currently ranges between categories 3 and 5, the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with winds still exceeding 200 kilometers per hour, according to National Hurricane Center American (CNH).
He NHC In its latest bulletin, Melissa foresees that it will move on Wednesday morning off the east coast of Cuba, crossing the southeast or the center of the Bahamas later in the day, and passing near or west of the Bermuda between Thursday night and early Friday morning.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
