Satellite images taken before and after Hurricane Melissa show the destruction it wreaked on Jamaica

Hurricane Melissa wreaked catastrophic damage in Caribbean communities after it made landfall on Tuesday.

The storm — the strongest hurricane this year — barreled through Jamaica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti, decimating homes and businesses, flooding streets, and knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of residents. At least 30 people were killed in the region.

Jamaica was the hardest hit, as the hurricane made landfall with sustained wind speeds of 185 miles per hour, some of the strongest ever recorded in the region. On Tuesday, Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared the entire country a disaster area.

“The devastation is enormous,” the country’s transportation minister, Daryl Vaz, said.

The damages and economic losses from the hurricane could reach $48 billion to $52 billion, Accuweather said in a preliminary estimate.

These satellite photos by Vantor, a US spatial intelligence firm, show Jamaica before the historic hurricane and again on October 29.

This is the town of Black River, located on the southwestern coast of the island. Around 4,000 people live there.

Hurricane Melissa wiped out many of the town’s historical structures, including a 300-year-old church.

Source: The Weather Channel

Here’s a closer look at Black River before the storm.

Black River was described as “Ground Zero” by the prime minister.

Source: The Guardian

Another southwestern town in Jamaica, White House, also has a population of about 4,000.

You can see that, after the hurricane, the beachfront structures are almost entirely gone.

This is Montego Bay, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Jamaica. It’s located on the northern coast of the island.

After the storm, the crystalline waters are now a polluted brown.

Another popular area to visit is New Hope.

It was almost entirely flooded by Hurricane Melissa’s storm surges, which reached 13 feet in some areas.

More than half a million people in the region were left without power, and at least 30 were killed.

The damage inflicted by this storm will undoubtedly affect Jamaica for years to come.

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