Hurricane death toll rises to 43 in Haiti as aid pours in across the northern Caribbean

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s government said Tuesday that the death toll from Hurricane Melissa rose to 43, with 13 others still missing.

Crews were still trying to reach people in the country’s southwest region, where landslides and floodwaters devastated more than 30 communities.

At least 25 deaths occurred in the southwestern coastal town of Petit-Goâve, one of the hardest hit communities.

The Category 5 storm, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, flooded nearly 12,000 homes and destroyed nearly 200 others after its outer bands battered Haiti last week. Numerous roads remain inaccessible.

The government warned there’s a drinking water shortage in several communities, and that it will soon distribute seeds and tools to farmers facing major agricultural losses.

More than 1,700 people remain in shelters.

Meanwhile, in nearby Jamaica, crews were trying to reach more than two dozen communities that remained cut off since Melissa made landfall on Oct. 28.

The storm killed at least 32 people in Jamaica, with officials warning that number would rise.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness said Tuesday that preliminary, conservative estimates suggest the hurricane caused at least $6 billion in damage.

“It is … a major hit to our economy,” he said. “We have never had a disaster of this magnitude.”

The U.S. State Department said Tuesday it has committed $24 million in disaster relief funding for the Caribbean islands hit by Hurricane Melissa. It said $12 million has been earmarked for Jamaica, $8.5 million for Haiti, $3 million for Cuba and $500,000 for the Bahamas so far and that more assistance would be announced once assessments are completed.

Mike Bassett, national director of domestic, humanitarian and emergency affairs of World Vision International, said a potential humanitarian crisis could unfold if aid is not delivered quickly.

“I have been doing this for over 10 years, and I have never seen anything like this,” Bassett said Tuesday while in Jamaica.

He said that while visiting hurricane-ravaged communities like Chester Castle and Cambridge, people were seen bathing in a river and gathering its water for drinking because of a lack of electricity and water supply in the hurricane’s aftermath.

World Vision is among a growing list of international aid agencies and volunteers that are working independently and with Jamaican officials to administer aid.

“The relief flights are coming in fast and furious and there is no shortage of supplies,” said Transport and Energy Minister Daryl Vaz, who is the co-chair of the special committee established to streamline the government’s relief and recovery efforts.

Pearnel Charles Jr., who leads Jamaica’s Social Security Ministry, said the relief effort is being ramped up.

“We are coordinating with every available resource,” said Charles, who rejected complaints that not enough was being done to get aid to storm survivors fast enough.

The State Department has sent disaster assistance response teams and urban search and rescue units from Virginia and California to affected countries, focusing primarily on Jamaica where the storm damage seems to have been most severe.

In Jamaica, the department said it responded to about 800 calls for assistance from American citizens living in or traveling to the island, more than half of which came from the resort area of Montego Bay. It estimated that 11,000 Americans have left Jamaica, most without U.S. government help.

The money for Cuba is being funneled through the Catholic Church and not through Cuban government agencies, it said.

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AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed from Washington.