8 hours ago
3
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
Authorities have yet to reach dozens of communities in Jamaica, raising the question of how many people really died in last week’s storm.
Frances Robles reported from Black River, Jamaica, one of the communities hardest hit by Hurricane Melissa.
Nov. 2, 2025, 12:27 a.m. ET
The death toll in Jamaica from Hurricane Melissa rose to 28 on Saturday, even as the authorities and humanitarian workers acknowledged that they had yet to reach dozens of communities that were hardest hit by the devastating storm.
The Jamaican government said on Saturday night that nine more deaths had been identified since the previous tally of 19. Additional reports of possible fatalities are still being verified, a government statement said.
Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category 5 storm, one of the worst in the country’s history. At least another 30 people were killed in Haiti, which was not directly hit by the storm but experienced severe flooding.
Many communities that were affected by the storm, especially in western Jamaica, have been cut off from the rest of the country by washed-out roads and downed trees. A vast majority of Jamaicans are still without electricity and telephone service, so authorities have no real idea how many people died in many areas of the country, several people involved in rescue operations said.
Image
In St. Elizabeth Parish, in the southwest of the island, Fire Superintendent Kimar Brooks said the authorities had not reached about 15 of the parish’s roughly three dozen communities.
Blockages have cut some towns off, Coleridge Minto, the police superintendent of St. Elizabeth, said Saturday. At least seven deaths have been officially reported in the parish, he said.
