TRANSCRIPT:
For days Jamaicans had been warned of an approaching storm of catastrophic proportions - and as Hurricane Melissa made landfall, it lived up to expectations, bringing mass destruction.
Jamaica's Local Government Minister, Desmond Mckenzie, says Black River in St Elizabeth was among the hardest hit.
"Jamaica's gone through what I can call one of its worst period. Our infrastructure has been severely compromised. St. Elizabeth is the breadbasket of the country, and that has taken a beating. The entire Jamaica has felt the brunt of Melissa."
Hurricane Melissa has caused record storm surges and wind speeds approaching 300 kilometres an hour, collapsing homes and tearing tiles off roofs.
"Over 530,000 Jamaicans representing 77.3 per cent of GPS customers island-wide are without electricity.”
Australian Samuel Zinzan Ziff is feeling the effects of Melissa firsthand.
Originally from the Sunshine Coast he has been working as a filmmaker in the capital Kingston since June.
He says it was an anxious wait for the storm.
"You're waiting for something to happen, and you just don't know what the outcome is going to be. It's just anxious ... The roof worries me a little bit. Like last night, I pretty much had to tie myself to my bed just in case the roof fell off. It was really scary.... There's no tap water, you can't flush the toilets, or anything like that. So you've got to fill up these big drums just filled with water, so we can bathe, wash up."
But he says it could have been much worse.
"We're pretty lucky. But if you go to New Kingston and there's some areas in the central CBD part, they're completely flooded.”
Many others in Kingston are feeling grateful to have been spared the worst as the storm veered away from the city at the last moment.
"We're really sorry, really, (for those) who get damaged. But trust me, it's not no joke. It's not a joke.”
But the head of Jamaica's Meteorological Office, Evan Thompson, has urged against complacency, advising people to shelter in place.
"The lady of the moment is Hurricane Melissa. And we'll be hearing a lot about Hurricane Melissa today, because there has been no significant change in terms of the magnitude of this system, the strength of its winds.”
The United Nations spokesperson for the Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric says it will provide aid for Jamaica, along with Haiti and Cuba.
"In Cuba, where the hurricane is expected to make landfall overnight in the eastern part of the island, preparations are pre-positioning of supplies and assets are still underway.”]]
As Melissa moves towards Cuba, local authorities estimate more than half a million people have been evacuated.
Among them, Santiago De Cuba resident Elvira Moreira.
"We are thinking the worst will happen, because according to what they told us, I think it is coming with strength and we want to preserve our lives."
Cuba's president Miguel Diaz-Canel says time is of the essence because the deadly storm is far from over.
"We are once again asking everyone to use the time left before the hurricane arrives to move to safe areas to face this hurricane."
