MEL AND HIGH WATER

THOUSANDS of tourists could be stranded in Jamaica for weeks after Hurricane Melissa tore through the Caribbean, killing at least 27 people.

- BY JOSHUA WHORMS and SHANNON MILLER

The Category 5 hurricane landed on Tuesday with sustained winds of 297kph flattening homes, uprooting trees, destroying infrastructure, and cutting off devastated communities.

Thousands of tourists are on holiday in Jamaica during the half-term school break.

Pia Chevallier, from Cambridge in England, was in Montego Bay when the hurricane hit.

She said: "I was feeling sick with worry, my whole body was shaking and I was worried we might not come out of it alive. I was so scared.

"The damage is absolutely horrendous.

"The windows didn't stop vibrating. There is just devastation everywhere. Palm trees blown off, tiles from roofs, paths blocked and debris."

More than three-quarters of Jamaicans were left without power and meteorologists warned it could take weeks to reach stranded residents and tourists.

AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter said: "Those in western Jamaica could be cut off for some time.

"The damage to infrastructure is extensive. It will be incredibly difficult for resources to reach hardest-hit areas."