KINGSTON, Jamaica — Desmond McKenzie, Jamaica’s local government minister, said on Wednesday morning that rescuers were helping people who were trapped on roofs after Hurricane Melissa caused flooding.
McKenzie, the former mayor of Kingston, said the damage assessments were ongoing, and he asked the public to be careful with fallen power lines as the cleanup process begins.
“A lot of homes have been destroyed,” McKenzie said, adding that more and more people who were displaced were arriving at shelters.
McKenzie was among the speakers during Jamaica’s Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management’s 11 a.m. briefing.
“The Black River Hospital has been devastated,” McKenzie said about the public facility in the parish of St. Elizabeth.
Norman Manley International Airport should reopen to disaster relief flights on Thursday, according to Dana Morris Dixon, the education minister.
“Many people have said they cannot reach their families in western Jamaica. That’s because of damage to the telecoms infrastructure,” Morris Dixon said, adding that Starlink Services was assisting the Jamaican government.
Morris Dixon said the most significant damage was on the western side of the island. Hurricane Melissa made landfall at 1 p.m. Tuesday near New Hope, as a Category 5 with 185 mph winds.
“We also know that in the center of the country, in Clarendon and in Manchester, there was a lot of damage, a lot of flooding too,” Morris Dixon said.
In Montego Bay, the public infrastructure was “severely impacted,” two floors of a government building “flooded out,” and the Jared Park Centre for the homeless had to be evacuated, McKenzie said.
The least affected areas of Jamaica were the St Thomas and St. Katherine parishes, and sections of Kingston and the St. Andrew parish, according to Jamaican officials.
“We are still in an unstable situation,” Evan Thompson, the principal director at Jamaica’s meteorological service, said about 2 to 4 more inches of rainfall in hard-hit areas and a flash flood risk on Wednesday in northwestern Jamaica.
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