Hurricane Melissa, the strongest storm in Jamaican history, has left widespread destruction across the island, cutting power to nearly 75% of households and flooding major cities, including Montego Bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared Jamaica a disaster zone, warning of severe damage to homes, hospitals, and infrastructure. Winds reaching 298 km\/h (185 mph) tore roofs from houses, uprooted trees, and split Montego Bay into two parts due to massive flooding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Local officials compared the devastation to \u201can apocalypse movie,\u201d as rescue teams struggle to reach trapped families in St Elizabeth, one of Jamaica\u2019s most productive farming regions now submerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meteorologists say the storm\u2019s rapid intensification was fueled by unusually warm Caribbean waters, linking it to the growing effects of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While communication remains crippled, residents and tourists recount terrifying experiences, describing flying debris, shattered windows, and roofs ripped apart overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Jamaican government hopes to access its catastrophe bond insurance to begin recovery efforts as the hurricane moves toward Cuba, now weakened to a Category 3 storm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hurricane Melissa, the strongest storm in Jamaican history, has left widespread destruction across the island, cutting power to nearly 75% of households and flooding major cities, including Montego Bay. Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared Jamaica a disaster zone, warning of severe damage to homes, hospitals, and infrastructure. Winds reaching 298 km\/h (185 mph) tore roofs…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30,38,35],"tags":[2248,2250,39,2245,2249,2246,2247],"class_list":["post-2753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","category-news","category-world","tag-andrew-holness","tag-caribbean-storm","tag-climate-change","tag-hurricane-melissa","tag-jamaica-disaster","tag-jamaica-flood","tag-montego-bay"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t