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Prime Min­is­ter Dr An­drew Hol­ness has de­clared Ja­maica a 'dis­as­ter area', as the coun­try reels from wide­spread in­fra­struc­tur­al dam­age and cat­a­stroph­ic flood­ing caused by the pas­sage of Hur­ri­cane Melis­sa across the is­land.

Tues­day's de­ci­sion fol­lows ad­vice from the Of­fice of Dis­as­ter Pre­pared­ness and Emer­gency Man­age­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Min­is­ter Desmond McKen­zie, amid wide­spread flood­ing, land­slides, and se­vere in­fra­struc­tur­al dam­age par­tic­u­lar­ly across Claren­don, Man­ches­ter, St Eliz­a­beth and West­more­land, where many com­mu­ni­ties re­main cut off and roads im­pass­able.

The de­c­la­ra­tion was made un­der the Dis­as­ter Risk Man­age­ment Act, a state­ment from the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter said.