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Hurricane Melissa Weakens Over Bahamas as Death Toll Climbs to 30 and Bermuda Braces

Relief operations expand, with assessments still limited by widespread outages after the storm’s record-strength landfall in Jamaica.

Overview

  • Forecasters say the storm, now weaker over the Bahamas, is tracking toward Bermuda and could briefly re‑intensify to Category 2 before curving back out to sea.
  • Haiti’s toll has risen to at least 25 dead, mostly from La Digue river flooding in Petit-Goâve, bringing provisional regional fatalities to roughly 30 with searches continuing.
  • Cuba reported winds near 195 km/h at a Category 3 landfall in the southeast, where authorities evacuated more than 700,000 people and assessed major damage in eastern provinces.
  • Jamaica was declared a disaster zone following Category 5 impact, with extensive power and telecom failures, four hospitals damaged and severe flooding in southern parishes.
  • The United Nations released $4 million for Haiti and Cuba, the United States repositioned regional assets, and the Bahamas evacuated about 1,500 people ahead of the storm.