By James Blears

Large swathes of Jamaica are underwater, engulfed by massive flash flooding. Most of the island is still without electricity. Melissa cannoned into Jamaica with wind gusts of almost three hundred kilometres per hour. Most of the widespread damage has been inflicted on the South and the North West of Jamaica, and it`s on a biblical scale. Loss of life must be fully assessed during the coming days.

Smashing into Cuba

Having spent some of its fury, tearing into terra firma, having made landfall,  Melissa has weakened to a Category Two Storm as it`s smashed into Cuba, still retaining almost unlimited destruction capacity. I

t would be a grave error at any cost to consider it a spent force. Accordingly, hundreds of thousands in Cuba have been evacuated to secure emergency shelters. Melissa is moving at a stately twenty-two kilometres per hour, but still deadly.

Standing in its way are tiny and exposed Bermuda, then Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The damage it`s wrought will run to billions. The aftermath, which resembles matchwood,  will take decades to rectify. The loss of life is permanent and irreplaceable.