45 Confirmed Deaths from Hurricane Melissa

The Government is reporting that the death toll from Category Five Hurricane Melissa is now at 45.

Addressing Tuesday’s (Nov. 11) Special Press Briefing at Jamaica House, Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, said the Jamaica

Constabulary Force (JCF), in conjunction the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), investigated and concluded that the deaths were associated with the hurricane.

She informed that nine deaths are under investigation.

“In terms of postmortems, they have been able to conduct 33 postmortems to date,” she advised.

The highest number of deaths were recorded in St. Elizabeth with 18 fatalities, followed by Westmoreland with 15.

Six deaths were recorded in St. James, two each in Hanover and Trelawny and one each in St. Ann and Portland.

“Those are 45 families that are hurting deeply. Really, really hurting, and so, as we look at that number, we pray for those families. We pray that God will comfort them. It’s a hard time to deal with the death of a family member, plus be dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane. I ask all of Jamaica to please pray for these families as they traverse this very, very, very difficult time,” she urged.