At least 20 people, 10 of them children, are confirmed to have died in Haiti in flooding caused by Hurricane Melissa, officials say.
Most were killed when a river burst its bank in Petit-Goave, leaving 25 dead, the town’s mayor said.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) had earlier warned that Melissa was likely to cause “catastrophic” flash flooding and landslides.
Haiti is significantly less developed than its neighbours, and is therefore likely to see “extensive damage and isolation of communities” as a result of the devastation caused by the hurricane, the NHC says.
In Petit-Goave, in southern Haiti, many people remained trapped in collapsed houses. “I am overwhelmed by the situation,” Mayor Jean Bertrand Subrème told AP.
Along Haiti’s southern coast, many homes have been washed away.
“You can see many roofs have been taken off. People are clearing the debris with their bare hands,” described Pascal Bimenyimana from the World Relief NGO.
Mr Bimenyimana said 3,000 people remained in shelters in the south of the country.
Hurricane Melissa has caused havoc across parts of the Caribbean, with Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti worst affected.
The storm, which unleashed 185mph winds on Jamaica, left most of the island without power.
Although no deaths have yet been confirmed in Jamaica, Montego Bay’s mayor Richard Vernon told the BBC his first task at daybreak would be “to check if everybody is alive”.
The hurricane is currently moving north-east towards the Bahamas and Bermuda.
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