Communities across the Caribbean are reeling in the wake of Hurricane Melissa, which ripped through Jamaica, Cuba and Hispaniola, the island comprising Haiti and the Dominican Republic, this week. While officials said that damage assessments remained underway to determine the full scope of the destruction,

The storm was making its way to the Bahamas and Bermuda on Thursday morning as Jamaica confronted the devastation from one of the most potent storms ever recorded anywhere.

The prime minister ordered mandatory evacuations as officials braced for tens of thousands to be displaced. Three people were killed and 13 others injured during preparations for the storm, the health minister said.

At least five people have been killed on the island nation after the powerful category 5 storm hit earlier this week, with at least 20 left dead in Haiti.

Follow live updates on Hurricane Melissa as the death toll reaches 38 people. Recovery efforts are underway in Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

Ruth Lyn Deer, 76, rode out the storm in Cobie Ridge, a settlement about seven miles from Black River, according to Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner . The woman hunkered down inside her Food for the Poor home, which was built six years ago, and watched as the storm ripped off part of her roof and led to a sinkhole opening up in her bedroom.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Cuba overnight after battering Jamaica as one of the most powerful landfalling storms in Atlantic basin history.

Hurricane Melissa is making its way across Cuba as a Category 2 storm, a day after making landfall in Jamaica as one of the region’s strongest storms on record.