the Bahamas, Hurricane Melissa
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Hurricane Melissa made landfall Wednesday morning in Cuba as a powerful Category 3 hurricane with winds of 120 mph.
Hurricane Melissa brought devastation and death to the Caribbean as it tore through the region as one of the most powerful storms on earth in more than 150 years.
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.
Hurricane Melissa cut through the southeast Bahamas Wednesday and is expected to pass just west of Bermuda by late Thursday.
People across the northern Caribbean are digging out from the destruction caused by Hurricane Melissa as deaths from the storm climbed.
The National Hurricane Center's 10 a.m. Thursday update reported that Category 2 Hurricane Melissa is in the Atlantic Ocean, 215 miles northeast of the Central Bahamas and 685 miles southwest of Bermuda. The hurricane is moving north-northeast at 21 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph.
Historic, life-threatening flash flooding and landslides are expected in portions of Jamaica, southern Haiti and the Dominican Republic through the weekend, the NHC said. Peak storm surge heights could reach 9 to 13 feet above normal tide levels when the storm makes landfall, accompanied by large and powerfully destructive waves.
Hurricane Melissa barreled into Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category 5 storm with some of the fastest winds and strongest intensities ever recorded. The storm blew through the Caribbean island’s southwestern coast,