{"id":1649,"date":"2025-11-03T09:36:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T09:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649"},"modified":"2025-11-02T23:08:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T23:08:40","slug":"jamaica-hurricane-death-toll-hits-28-as-caribbean-island-reels-from-colossal-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649","title":{"rendered":"Jamaica hurricane death toll hits 28 as Caribbean Island reels from colossal disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Storm-ravaged communities in western Jamaica were facing dire straits Sunday, days after record-setting Hurricane Melissa left towns demolished and at least 28 people dead across the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prime Minister Andrew Holness confirmed the new death toll \u2014 nine higher than the previous tally of 19 \u2014 and posted on X late Saturday that \u201cthere are additional reports of possible fatalities that are still being verified\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Burna Boy - Sittin\u2019 On Top Of The World (feat. 21 Savage) [Official Music Video]\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mMJ3Gogi2Qk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Melissa became the most intense storm to make landfall in 90 years when it barreled into Jamaica last Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane packing winds of 185 miles (300 kilometers) per hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It ripped a terrifying path through the Caribbean, leaving at least 31 dead in Haiti, Dominican Republicincluding 10 children who drowned in heavy flooding, and ravaged parts of Cuba and the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Jamaica, devastation was rampant in western parishes including Westmoreland and Saint Elizabeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>AFP reporters witnessed residents grappling with the enormity of the disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Buildings in Whitehouse were destroyed or crumpled, with corrugated roofs strewn across the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Power lines were down, and trees were shorn of all leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many communities have been cut off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Countless homes, hospitals, businesses, and other buildings have been badly damaged or destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With large swathes of the country still without electricity or phone service, it was difficult to gain an accurate assessment of the death toll or the scope of the search and rescue operations needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The staggering economic losses will be a \u201cburden\u201d weighing on Jamaica and the rest of the region for years, a senior United Nations official said Sunday in Panama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is estimated that Melissa could cause economic losses equivalent to Jamaica\u2019s annual GDP,\u201d said Nahuel Arenas, head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) for the Americas and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the World Bank, the gross domestic product of Jamaica stood at nearly $20 billion in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese are losses that will weigh heavily on the economy of all Jamaicans for years and years to come,\u201d Arenas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The World Health Organisation and other groups have sent medical teams in the country, and the United States says its emergency response teams are on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>United Nations chief Antonio Guterres \u201cemphasised that international support is crucial at this time,\u201d and called for the \u201cmobilisation of massive resources\u201d to address the loss and damage, a spokesman for the secretary-general said Sunday in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The UN has allocated $4 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund to help scale up humanitarian operations in Jamaica. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.channelstv.com\/2025\/11\/02\/jamaica-hurricane-death-toll-hits-28-as-caribbean-island-reels-from-colossal-disaster\/\">(Channels)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Storm-ravaged communities in western Jamaica were facing dire straits Sunday, days after record-setting Hurricane Melissa left towns demolished and at least 28 people dead across the island. Prime Minister Andrew Holness confirmed the new death toll \u2014 nine higher than the previous tally of 19 \u2014 and posted on X late Saturday that \u201cthere are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[2105,1163,2108,2106,2107,2104,2103,786,57],"class_list":["post-1649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign","tag-andrew-holness","tag-antonio-guterres","tag-caribbean","tag-cuba-a","tag-dominican-republic","tag-hurricane-melissa","tag-jamaica","tag-united-nations","tag-united-states"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jamaica hurricane death toll hits 28 as Caribbean Island reels from colossal disaster - Tona Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Storm-ravaged communities in western Jamaica were facing dire straits Sunday, days after record-setting Hurricane Melissa left towns\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jamaica hurricane death toll hits 28 as Caribbean Island reels from colossal disaster - Tona Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Storm-ravaged communities in western Jamaica were facing dire straits Sunday, days after record-setting Hurricane Melissa left towns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tona Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-03T09:36:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Jamaica.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tona.Today\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tona.Today\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1649#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1649\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tona.Today\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/76420356652545dc8fd331a11f052477\"},\"headline\":\"Jamaica hurricane death toll hits 28 as Caribbean Island reels from colossal disaster\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-03T09:36:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1649\"},\"wordCount\":443,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1649#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/Jamaica.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Andrew Holness\",\"Antonio Guterres\",\"Caribbean\",\"Cuba a\",\"Dominican Republic\",\"Hurricane Melissa\",\"Jamaica\",\"United Nations\",\"United States\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Foreign\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1649#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1649\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1649\",\"name\":\"Jamaica hurricane death toll hits 28 as Caribbean Island reels from colossal disaster - Tona Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1649#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1649#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/Jamaica.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-03T09:36:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Storm-ravaged communities in western Jamaica were facing dire straits Sunday, days after record-setting Hurricane Melissa left towns\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1649#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1649\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1649#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/Jamaica.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/Jamaica.jpg\",\"width\":650,\"height\":350},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1649#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Jamaica hurricane death toll hits 28 as Caribbean Island reels from colossal disaster\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tona Today\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Tona Today\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/cropped-cropped-Your-paragraph-text-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/cropped-cropped-Your-paragraph-text-1.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":117,\"caption\":\"Tona Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/76420356652545dc8fd331a11f052477\",\"name\":\"Tona.Today\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tona.Today\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jamaica hurricane death toll hits 28 as Caribbean Island reels from colossal disaster - Tona Today","description":"Storm-ravaged communities in western Jamaica were facing dire straits Sunday, days after record-setting Hurricane Melissa left towns","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jamaica hurricane death toll hits 28 as Caribbean Island reels from colossal disaster - Tona Today","og_description":"Storm-ravaged communities in western Jamaica were facing dire straits Sunday, days after record-setting Hurricane Melissa left towns","og_url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649","og_site_name":"Tona Today","article_published_time":"2025-11-03T09:36:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":650,"height":350,"url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Jamaica.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Tona.Today","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tona.Today","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649"},"author":{"name":"Tona.Today","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#\/schema\/person\/76420356652545dc8fd331a11f052477"},"headline":"Jamaica hurricane death toll hits 28 as Caribbean Island reels from colossal disaster","datePublished":"2025-11-03T09:36:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649"},"wordCount":443,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Jamaica.jpg","keywords":["Andrew Holness","Antonio Guterres","Caribbean","Cuba a","Dominican Republic","Hurricane Melissa","Jamaica","United Nations","United States"],"articleSection":["Foreign"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649","name":"Jamaica hurricane death toll hits 28 as Caribbean Island reels from colossal disaster - Tona Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Jamaica.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-03T09:36:00+00:00","description":"Storm-ravaged communities in western Jamaica were facing dire straits Sunday, days after record-setting Hurricane Melissa left towns","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Jamaica.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Jamaica.jpg","width":650,"height":350},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1649#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/tona.today\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Jamaica hurricane death toll hits 28 as Caribbean Island reels from colossal disaster"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/","name":"Tona Today","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#organization","name":"Tona Today","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cropped-cropped-Your-paragraph-text-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cropped-cropped-Your-paragraph-text-1.jpg","width":500,"height":117,"caption":"Tona Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#\/schema\/person\/76420356652545dc8fd331a11f052477","name":"Tona.Today","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tona.Today"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/tona.today"],"url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?author=2"}]}},"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1649"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1651,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1649\/revisions\/1651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}