US is sending dozens of relief workers to help with fallout from Hurricane Melissa

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is deploying several dozen disaster relief workers, including urban search and rescue teams, to Caribbean island nations as they deal with devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa.

Disaster Assistance Response Team personnel from Washington and regional hubs in Miami and Costa Rica as well as the urban search and rescue crews from Los Angeles County, California, and Fairfax County, Virginia, are en route to the region, three State Department officials said Wednesday.

They are expected to arrive in the next 24 to 48 hours and join up with local staff in Jamaica, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic, where they will be based to offer help in neighboring Haiti, according to the officials, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity because the teams were not yet on the ground.

Hurricane Melissa has left dozens of people dead and widespread destruction across Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica. The monster storm made landfall Tuesday in Jamaica as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record before weakening and moving on to Cuba.

The State Department officials said they expected the U.S. response to the hurricane to be “robust,” “efficient” and “effective.” They dismissed concerns that the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which had previously overseen relief operations, would hinder the work.

The U.S. government shutdown also was not a factor, the officials said, and the people needed for the operation had been exempted from the furloughs that have affected all federal agencies.

It was not immediately clear if the DART team members would be paid immediately for their work, but the search and rescue teams are employed by their localties and their services are covered by long-term existing contracts.

The officials said anticipated needs include supplies like hygiene kits, temporary housing, sanitation equipment and food, which will be drawn from warehouses in Miami and from local stockpiles maintained by aid groups.

The officials and the U.S. military’s Tampa-based Southern Command said the Pentagon could play a role in transporting personnel and supplies to remote areas in the affected countries but that a decision on the scale of such involvement had not yet been made.

Col. Manny Ortiz, Southern Command spokesman, said plans for military support for the disaster assistance teams were being reviewed.

“As a preparatory measure, we have initiated planning to deploy a situational assessment team that will be tasked with evaluating the conditions in hurricane-stricken areas and the unique requirements needed for timely and effective life-saving, urgent humanitarian aid, and disaster response operations,” he said in a statement.

“Future decisions on potential U.S. support will be based on their assessments, but it is still too soon to speculate on what that support will consist of,” he said.

The Trump administration has built up a military presence in the Caribbean as part of its crackdown on drug trafficking, which includes deadly strikes on boats that it accuses of being operated by cartels. The Pentagon says it is sending an aircraft carrier to join the eight warships, series of aircraft and thousands of troops already in the region.

Navy and Pentagon officials say the hurricane has not had any effect on military operations so far.

The State Department officials said there were no plans at the moment to evacuate any of the thousands of American citizens believed to be living in or visiting the affected islands and they expected most would be able to leave on commercial flights or ships once airports and ports reopen.

There are roughly 5,000 Americans registered in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program in Jamaica and an additional 3,200 in the Bahamas, the officials said. But they said they do not know the exact numbers because the program is voluntary and U.S. citizens are not required to register with the government when they travel abroad.

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Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.