Rescue efforts stepped up in Jamaica as airport opens for critical aid

Jamaica has boosted rescue and relief efforts to clear roads and reach people in isolated and cutoff areas after Hurricane Melissa rampaged through the Caribbean, with the storm heading towards Bermuda.

- Natricia Duncan Kingston Oliver Holmes

Kingston, Jamaica’s capital, was spared the worst damage and the main international airport has reopened to allow flights carrying critical aid to land. Some towns were described by officials as “underwater” and power lines and mobile network towers were down in much of the southwest.

Daryl Vaz, the transportation minister, said: “The devastation is enormous.” Jamaica was hit first and hardest this week when Melissa made landfall on Tuesday - the country’s strongest hurricane since records began in 1851.

The storm carried sustained winds of 185mph, far above the minimum for a category 5 storm, the strongest classification for hurricanes.