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Storm-ravaged communities in western Jamaica are in dire straits days after record-setting Hurricane Melissa demolished towns and killed at least 28 people across the island.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness confirmed the new death toll – nine higher than the previous tally of 19 – and posted on X late Saturday that additional reports of possible fatalities are still being verified.

Melissa became the most intense storm to make landfall in 90 years when it barrelled into Jamaica last Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane packing winds of 300km/h.

It ripped a terrifying path through the Caribbean, killing at least 31 in Haiti, including 10 children who drowned in heavy flooding, and ravaged parts of Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

In Jamaica, devastation was rampant in western parishes including Westmoreland and St Elizabeth.

AFP reporters witnessed residents grappling with the enormity of the disaster. Buildings in Whitehouse were destroyed or crumpled, with corrugated roofs strewn across the ground. Power lines were down and trees were shorn of all leaves.

Many communities have been cut off. Countless homes, hospitals, businesses and other buildings have been badly damaged or destroyed.

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.

The staggering economic losses will be a “burden” weighing on Jamaica and the rest of the region for years, a senior United Nations official said Sunday in Panama.

“It is estimated that Melissa could cause economic losses equivalent to Jamaica’s annual GDP,” said Nahuel Arenas, head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) for the Americas and the Caribbean.

According to the World Bank, the gross domestic product of Jamaica stood at nearly US$20 billion ($35b) last year.

“These are losses that will weigh heavily on the economy of all Jamaicans for years and years to come,” Arenas said.

The World Health Organisation and other groups have stood up medical teams in the country, and the United States says its emergency response teams are on the ground.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres “emphasised that international support is crucial at this time,” and called for the “mobilisation of massive resources” to address the loss and damage, a spokesman for the secretary-general said Sunday in a statement.

The UN has allocated $4m from its Central Emergency Response Fund to help scale up humanitarian operations in Jamaica.

-Agence France-Presse