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U.S.-based aid groups rush to get supplies into storm-battered Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa

By
Cristian Benavides
Correspondent, CBS Newspath
Cristian Benavides is a CBS News correspondent based in Miami.
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Cristian Benavides

/ CBS News

Key West, Florida — Across the U.S., there are furious efforts to get aid into the Caribbean nation of Jamaica following the trail of destruction and devastation left by Hurricane Melissa. 

Tens of thousands remain in shelters, and about 490,000 homes and businesses were still without power as of Thursday, or about 72% of the island, according to Jamaican officials. More than 130 roads remain blocked by debris.

Melissa, which made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane, was responsible for at least four deaths in Jamaica.

"I think the entire Jamaica is really broken because of what has happened," Jamaican Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information Dana Dixon  in a news conference Thursday.

In Key West, Florida, Project DYNAMO, a nonprofit group of military veterans with unique search and rescue experience, is bringing in supplies for Jamaicans and providing flights home for stranded Americans.

"We have Americans that are in trouble," James Judge, team leader for Project DYNAMO, told CBS News. "They're in a very bad area right now. They're experiencing arguably the worst experience of their life."

At the Global Empowerment Mission, a nonprofit aid organization headquartered near Miami, Shanna Ford, who is from Jamaica, is one of dozens of volunteers packing up basic supplies for survival, including food, water and tarps for protection from the elements. 

"It was just really nerve-wracking for me to see that happening to the island that I know and love," Ford said.

Ford still has family in Jamaica, including her father, who rode out the storm in Kingston.

"As the storm was hitting, we didn't have immediate communication because the network was in and out," Ford said.

Michael Capponi, president of the Global Empowerment Mission, says Florida's close ties to the Caribbean has led to a wave of volunteers.

"We have the second-largest Jamaican diaspora community in south Florida," Capponi said. "If you're Jamaican, you cannot just sit home and watch this on the news. So they're all here coming every hour."

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