Jamaica and Cuba Face Huge Challenges After Hurricane Melissa

Severe Damage and Devastation

Hurricane Melissa, one of the strongest ever recorded in the Atlantic, has left a trail of destruction in Jamaica and Cuba.

Jamaica Hit Hardest in the West

• Seaside communities flattened
• Piles of brick, wood, and twisted metal
• Floodwaters gouged asphalt roads

• Cars knocked into muddy pits

• Elementary school damaged
• Roof sheared off
• Beams splintered onto desks

Cuba Faces Critical Situation

• 2 million Cubans in urgent need
• Shelter, food, water, and health care

• U.N. coordinator Francisco Pichón: "Situation is critical"

• Jamaica's damage assessment ongoing
• Death toll not yet confirmed
• Military helicopter dispatched to recover bodies

St. Elizabeth: Ground Zero of the Disaster

• Historic buildings reduced to rubble
• Courthouse, library, churches
• Black River decimated
• Once known for crocodile safaris and calm holidays
• Now unrecognizable

• Waterloo Guest House destroyed
• First private home in Jamaica lit by electricity

• Now just a pile of wood

• Boulders litter the coastline
• Cellphone tower twisted into a semicircle

Communities Affected

• More than 170 communities moderately or severely affected
• Flooding or landslides
• 13,000 people still in shelters

• 400,000 Jamaicans without power

• Government and aid groups working
• Securing and distributing food and medications

International Assistance

• Britain, France, and Caribbean neighbors pledge aid
• United States prepared to provide assistance
• Cuba may accept U.S. aid

Cuba's Recovery Efforts

• Volunteers helping to clean up in Bayamo
• Diana Iglesias, 50, among them
• Her eldest son cooking lunch for 100 people