St Elizabeth has suffered significant infrastructural damage from Hurricane Melissa, including hits to essential buildings like hospitals and police stations.

“I can tell you the parish of St Elizabeth is under water, the damage to St Elizabeth is extensive based on what we have seen, sections of Clarendon are also experiencing conditions,” Minister of Local Government, Desmond McKenzie, said on Tuesday evening as he gave a preliminary assessment of the damage during a press briefing with the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management.

The Santa Cruz infirmary in the parish was flooded, resulting in the relocation of 50 residents to a different section of the facility. The fire brigade station in Santa Cruz was also flooded out.

“We have reports coming out of Black River where a number of families were trapped in their homes, and it was difficult for the rescue team to get there,” McKenzie said.

The minister could not confirm at the time whether any deaths had been recorded, but indicated that at least three families had been marooned at home as rescues had proven especially challenging due to the storm conditions which included waist high water.

“During the passage of Melissa today, when the parish was under severe pressure with water as high as my waist it made rescue impossible, roofs were flying off everywhere…We are hoping for the best for those people, included in those homes is a firefighter who went to offer assistance and got caught,” McKenzie said.

The Black River Hospital also suffered roof damage as well as a loss of electricity, resulting in the evacuation of 75 patients, while the Black River police station suffered structural damage.

Superintendent Colridge Minto said a number of the parish roads were impassable and several families had taken up refuge at the police station.