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October 30, 2025

Death Toll Rises to 34 After Hurricane Melissa Batters Caribbean
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Hurricane Melissa is bearing down on Bermuda after leaving a trail of
destruction across the Caribbean, with at least 34 people confirmed dead
- most of them in Haiti. Jamaica has confirmed at least eight deaths,
after Melissa made landfall Tuesday as one of the most powerful Atlantic
hurricanes on record. This is Sasha Hamilton, a resident of the hard-hit
Catherine Hall neighborhood of Montego Bay in Jamaica.

Sasha Hamilton: "Yesterday was absolutely catastrophic and
life-threatening. We were totally inundated. The entire ground floors of
all the houses in Catherine Hall and West Green have been flooded. Major
asset loss to vehicles, furnitures. We had to do rescue. … And we are
literally desperate for some help at this point."

According to Accu Weather, Melissa could cost Jamaica $22 billion in
damages and economic losses - more than Jamaica's annual gross domestic
product. Rebuilding could take more than a decade.


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