Hurricane Melissa, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in more than 150 years, tore across the Caribbean this week, unleashing widespread destruction in Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas.
The storm has damaged homes, caused severe flooding, left widespread power outages in its wake and forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people. At least 30 people are known to have died, though the full toll of the catastrophic storm may take days or weeks to be determined.
Jamaica was hit the hardest. Melissa made landfall Tuesday as a Category 5 storm with estimated maximum sustained winds of 185 mph. The country’s infrastructure has taken a battering, leaving it “severely compromised,” according to Desmond McKenzie, Jamaica’s minister of local government and…
