The death toll in the wake of Hurricane's Melissa's rampage through the Caribbean has risen to 65 and is likely to rise to at least 73, after additional deaths were announced by Jamaican officials on Nov. 3.

Jamaica has confirmed 32 deaths, but Jamaican officials are working to confirm eight additional deaths, Information Minister Dana Morris Dixon said during an afternoon update on Nov. 3. The hurricane claimed 31 lives in Haiti and two in the Dominican Republic.

Melissa made landfall on Jamaica's southwest coast a week ago, with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph at its center with gusts of more than 200 mph. The powerful winds, extreme rains and overwhelming storm surge caused widespread damage across the island, but especially in western Jamaica.

Tuesday, Nov. 4 will be one week, "but it feels like 10 years," said Daryl Vaz, minister of science, energy, telecommunications and transport.

Twenty-five communities on the island are still marooned, said Pearnel Charles Jr., minister of labour and social security. The hurricane has tested the island "in ways we could not have imagined," Charles said.

Working to restore devastated electrical and water service

Morris Dixon and others described the efforts underway to try to restore electricity and water service and to provide food water and relief supplies.

Electricity has been restored to about half the customers on the island, but that's primarily in urban areas, said Hugh Grant, president and CEO of the Jamaica Power Service. "Our steel lattice structure was twisted and on the ground," Grant said.

Grant noted the round-the-clock work underway. For example, he described an electrical worker whose wife had a seizure when a door and window blew off their home during the hurricane, who has not yet been able to stay with her because he has been working to help restore electricity.

Extensive damage also was reported to island water systems. On the north shore, intake pipes for the Great River water system were washed away, said Matthew Samuda, with the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation. Of 763 water systems on the island, 641 were disrupted.

Officials also pleaded with those with no business in western Jamaica to stay away. Sightseers and people taking selfies are creating a significant traffic pileup and impeding trucks providing relief supplies, the officials said.

Relief supplies and crews arriving

Jamaican officials said relief crews and supplies are arriving from around the world, including the United States, Canada, Venezuela, France and the Netherlands.

"The world is helping us ... because they love Jamaica," Vaz said.

The U.S. Department of State posted on X on Nov. 3 that it's providing an initial $11 million in foreign assistance to support communities in Jamaica, including emergency food supplies for up to 40,000 people and installation of six water treatment systems.

Donations to Jamaica's official donation site are nearing $1 million U.S. dollars, Morris Dixon said.

Dinah Voyles Pulver, a national correspondent for USA TODAY, has written about hurricanes, tornadoes and violent weather for more than 30 years. Reach her at dpulver@usatoday.com or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X or dinahvp.77 on Signal.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Melissa's death toll at 65 and expected to rise further

Reporting by Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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