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"Seeing the videos and the photographs is one thing, but actually being there in person and seeing the damage is quite another," a local senator said. "It's heartbreaking."
Complex and difficult humanitarian operations are underway in Jamaica and Cuba, with the U.S. government and nonprofits among those distributing vital aid.
Hurricane Melissa followed what has unfortunately become a pattern for major storms: It formed late in the season, intensified rapidly, then stalled near the coast.
The parish of St. Elizabeth, called Jamaica's "breadbasket," was "underwater," a government official said, after Melissa made landfall as a Category 5 storm with 185 mph winds.
The most powerful storm to hit the region since 1988 could inundate some areas of eastern Jamaica with up to 40 inches of rain. The arrival of its core has been delayed by stalling.
