BBC Breakfast hosts Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt issue 'devastating' update
BBC Breakfast presenters Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt shared a 'devastating' update on Hurricane Melissa moments into Thursday's programme
BBC Breakfast hosts Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt have shared a "devastating" update at the start of Thursday's programme.
The presenters kicked off the early morning BBC show with an update on Hurricane Melissa.
Five fatalities have been confirmed in Jamaica, and at least 20 people have lost their lives in Haiti due to flooding caused by the category five storm.
People are stranded without electricity and damaged infrastructure amid the floods, while Hurricane Melissa, now downgraded to a category one storm, is predicted to bring more strong winds and heavy rain.
Opening BBC Breakfast, Naga began: "Good morning, it's Thursday 30 October. Hurricane Melissa has continued to devastate parts of the Caribbean as at least five people are now confirmed to have died in Jamaica," reports the Express.
Charlie continued: "Buildings have been destroyed and there are wide-spread power cuts across the island. In Haiti, more than 20 people died during flooding."
As clips showing the devastation across Jamaica aired, a BBC reporter explained: "After living through the most powerful hurricane to ever hit their homelands, Jamaicans spent the day surveying the extent of the damage.
"What they found was a level of devastation never seen before. St Elizabeth Parish, known as the country's breadbasket, was underwater, homes and crops submerged and destroyed.
"And the resort area of Montego Bay, normally a paradise for tourists, torn apart by the fierce 185 mile per hour winds."
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness also told the BBC: "One town, Black River, has been totally destroyed. The corridor along which the eye of the hurricane made landfall and proceeded what you could effectively say is a trail of destruction, about 80 to 90% of roofs were destroyed."
He emphasised that the priority is to restore key infrastructure and that the international community has pledged to assist Jamaica with much-needed aid.
The BBC also spoke to and filmed residents affected by the storm in Cuba and Haiti, whose homes had been destroyed and are continuing to deal with the fallout from the flooding.
Back in the studio, Naga introduced a report from another correspondent in Jamaica: "Widespread damage to infrastructure has happened across the region, our correspondent Nick Davis is in Jamaica and sent this update from one of the island's hospitals."
Nick revealed how difficult it was for people to reach hospitals, with journeys that usually take one hour now taking more than five.
He said: "The hospital is completely destroyed, let me make that clear, there is nothing, and these are patients who need to come to a hospital, to a medical facility. It's impossible, the roads are completely impassible, there are trees down, there are telegraph poles down, the only way to be able to get through there is maybe with boats, because there's so much water."
BBC Breakfast airs from 6am on BBC One and iPlayer.