Category 5 Hurricane Melissa Devastates Jamaica

Hurricane Melissa slammed into Jamaica as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, tearing off roofs, uprooting trees, flooding hundreds of communities and leaving parts of the island inaccessible amid widespread power and communications outages. Members of the Jamaican diaspora across the U.S. and Canada — including in Virginia Beach, Greensboro, Kansas City, San Antonio, Boston, Connecticut and Sudbury — are anxiously trying to reach relatives, with many still out of contact though some have made connections and a Michigan family is working to return. Local accounts describe urgent humanitarian needs for food, water, medical care and shelter, and officials warn thousands of residents will need assistance. Jamaican associations, restaurants and community groups in North America are mobilizing relief, fundraising and arranging aid shipments. Neighboring Haiti has also suffered deadly impacts from the storm.