SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
In the full light of day, the wreckage of Hurricane Melissa is becoming clearer in Jamaica. Crews have begun cutting trees and opening roads, and Jamaicans are now trying to come to terms with what's next. NPR's Eyder Peralta has been following the story from his base in Mexico City. Hey, Eyder.
EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: Let's start with the big picture. This is a historic hurricane. Just how bad is the damage?
PERALTA: I mean, today, during a government press briefing, Dana Morris Dixon, the Jamaican cabinet minister, said 77% of the island is still without power. She says roads are still blocked, but it's going to take days before we get a full assessment.
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DANA MORRIS DIXON: It is really too early for us to say definitively what's the damage.
PERALTA: What they do know, she says, is that western Jamaica was pummeled, and the images coming out from those areas really do show vast devastation. The town of Black River looks ravaged. It seems like anything that was not built with concrete is destroyed. And today I spent the day talking to witnesses to get a better feel for what's going on. Let's listen.
The capital Kingston received a glancing blow from Hurricane Melissa, but witnesses say that everything changes as soon as you drive west. The roads are caked in mud. Some are blocked by downed power lines and trees. In the town of Spur Tree, any roof that was not well anchored to a home blew away.
DELIA BAILEY: We didn't have any damage until our neighbor roof got blown off. But we made it through.
PERALTA: Delia Bailey says her own roof was damaged and water started leaking into the house. But now she says it's time to work.
BAILEY: Right now, we're going to cut down one of our neighbor that an almond tree fell on her house. So we're going to cut it up until we can help her to get out.
PERALTA: Spur Tree is part of Jamaica's breadbasket. What happens here will affect the whole country because food prices are likely to rise. When Jennifer Baker looked out at the destroyed fields, she felt it in her stomach.
JENNIFER BAKER: Right now, my belly are ruined. Nothing will appetite me no have with this hurricane. Every fruit tree, everything, everything gone.
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PERALTA: Every fruit tree, everything is gone, she says. She takes a deep breath. There's still a lot to be thankful for, she says.
BAKER: Oh, my God. That's what I have to say. Thank you, Jesus. Alive.
PERALTA: She's alive. Authorities here say they don't have any reports of deaths. They say they can't presume at this point that anyone died, but it's still early. And the farther west you drive on the island, the more dramatic the damage gets. Alligator Pond is right on the island's south shore in the hard-hit St. Elizabeth Parish. And pretty much everything along the shoreline was totally wiped away. Dane Seton stood watching the waves, still in awe.
DANE SETON: It was amazing. This time was so amazing, man.
PERALTA: He spent the night of the hurricane, he says, out here.
SETON: In the night, I was there trying to get some things out, and I couldn't save them.
PERALTA: He says he was trying to save some of the things from his house, but the Caribbean Sea turned monstrous. He couldn't save anything. He turns to his friend, Scoobie.
SETON: Scoobie, what do you have to say?
SCOOBIE: First time I witness something like this one on sea side. And it terrible, you know? But we get - we have life. We're surviving.
PERALTA: Scoobie turns to what's become the mantra of Jamaica these days - it was terrible, but at least we have life, at least we're surviving.
DETROW: That is reporting from NPR's Eyder Peralta. Eyder, that is what's going on in Jamaica, but this hurricane is still churning forward, right?
PERALTA: It is. It made landfall in Cuba as a Category 3 - major Category 3 storm last night. The government there is reporting widespread damage. And as this storm races into the Atlantic, it is not done yet. The National Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane warning for Bermuda.
DETROW: NPR's Eyder Peralta, thank you so much.
PERALTA: Thank you, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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