Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba pick up the pieces after Melissa's destruction

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SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (AP) — The rumble of large machinery, whine of chain saws and chopping of machetes echoed through communities across the northern Caribbean on Thursday as they dug out from the destruction of Hurricane Melissa and assessed the damage left behind.

In southeastern Jamaica, government workers and residents began clearing roads in a push to reach dozens of isolated communities that sustained a direct hit from one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record.

Stunned residents wandered about, some staring at their roofless homes and waterlogged belongings strewn around them.

"I don’t have a house now,” said a distressed Sylvester Guthrie, a resident of Lacovia in the southern parish of St. Elizabeth, as he held onto his bicycle, the only possession of value left after the storm.

“I have land in another location that I can build back, but I am going to need help,” the sanitation worker said.

Emergency relief flights began landing at Jamaica’s main international airport, which reopened late Wednesday, as crews distributed water, food and other basic supplies. Helicopters thrummed above communities where the storm flattened homes, wiped out roads and destroyed bridges, cutting them off from assistance.

“The devastation is enormous,” Jamaican Transportation Minister Daryl Vaz said.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness said up to 90% of roofs in the southwest coastal community of Black River were destroyed.

“Black River is what you would describe as ground zero,” he said. “The people are still coming to grips with the destruction.”

Authorities said they have found at least four bodies in southwest Jamaica.

More than 25,000 people remained crowded into shelters across the western half of Jamaica, with 72% of the island without power and only 35% of mobile sites in operation.

“We understand the frustration, we understand your anxiety, but we ask for your patience,” Vaz said.

Melissa also unleashed catastrophic flooding in Haiti, where at least 25 people were reported killed and 18 others missing, mostly in the country’s southern region.

“It is a sad moment for the country,” said Laurent Saint-Cyr, president of Haiti’s transitional presidential council.

He said officials expect the death toll to rise and noted that the government is mobilizing all its resources to search for people and provide emergency relief.

Steven Guadard, who lives in Petit-Goâve, said Melissa killed his entire family.

“I had four children at home: a 1-month-old baby, a 7-year-old, an 8-year-old and another who was about to turn 4,” he said.

Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency said Hurricane Melissa killed at least 20 people, including 10 children, in Petit-Goâve, where more than 160 homes were damaged and 80 others destroyed.

More than 11,600 people remained sheltered in Haiti because of the storm.

In Cuba, heavy equipment began to clear blocked roads and highways and the military helped rescue people trapped in isolated communities and at risk from landslides.

No deaths were reported after the Civil Defense evacuated more than 735,000 people across eastern Cuba ahead of the storm. They slowly were starting to return home.

The small, iconic town of El Cobre in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba was one of the hardest hit by Hurricane Melissa.

Home to some 7,000 people, it is also the site of the Basilica of Our Lady of Charity, patron saint of Cuba and deeply venerated by Catholics and practitioners of Santería, an Afro-Cuban religion.

“We went through this very badly. So much wind, so much wind. Zinc roofs were torn off. Some houses completely collapsed. It was a disaster,” said Odalys Ojeda, a 61-year-old retiree, as she looked up at the sky from her living room where the roofing and other parts of the house were torn away.

Even the basilica wasn't spared.

“Here at the sanctuary, the carpentry, stained glass and even the masonry suffered extensive damage,” Father Rogelio Dean Puerta said. “The town was also badly affected. Many people lost their homes and belongings. We need help."

In the more rural areas outside the city of Santiago de Cuba, water remained standing in homes Wednesday night as residents returned from shelters to save beds, mattresses, chairs, tables and fans they had elevated ahead of the storm.

A televised Civil Defense meeting chaired by President Miguel Díaz-Canel did not provide an official estimate of the damage. However, officials from the affected provinces — Santiago, Granma, Holguín, Guantánamo, and Las Tunas — reported losses of roofs, power lines, fiber optic telecommunications cables, cut roads, isolated communities and losses of banana, cassava and coffee plantations.

Many communities were still without electricity, internet and telephone service because of downed transformers and power lines.

When Melissa came ashore in Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane with top winds of 185 mph (295 kph) on Tuesday, it tied strength records for Atlantic hurricanes making landfall, both in wind speed and barometric pressure. It was still a Category 3 hurricane when it made landfall again in eastern Cuba early Wednesday.

A hurricane warning remained in effect Thursday for Bermuda. Hurricane conditions were expected to continue through the morning in the southeastern Bahamas, where dozens of people were evacuated.

Melissa was a Category 2 storm with top sustained winds near 105 mph (169 kph) Thursday morning and was moving north-northeast at 24 mph (39 kph) according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The hurricane was centered about 515 miles (830 kilometers) southwest of Bermuda.

Melissa was forecast to pass near or to the west of Bermuda late Thursday and may strengthen further before weakening Friday.

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Rodriguez reported from Havana and Myers Jr. reported from Kingston, Jamaica. Associated Press reporters Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and David Constantin in Petit-Goâve, Haiti, contributed to this report.