Hurricanes

"Seeing the videos and the photographs is one thing, but actually being there in person and seeing the damage is quite another," a local senator said. "It's heartbreaking."

Melissa has lost significant strength as it heads northeast toward the Canadian Maritimes.

Complex and difficult humanitarian operations are underway in Jamaica and Cuba, with the U.S. government and nonprofits among those distributing vital aid.

Melissa is making its way to Bermuda as Jamaica confronts the devastation from one of the most potent storms ever recorded.

More than 30 deaths are being attributed to the storm across Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, according to officials.

Hurricane Melissa followed what has unfortunately become a pattern for major storms: It formed late in the season, intensified rapidly, then stalled near the coast.

The parish of St. Elizabeth, called Jamaica's "breadbasket," was "underwater," a government official said, after Melissa made landfall as a Category 5 storm with 185 mph winds.

The most powerful storm to hit the region since 1988 could inundate some areas of eastern Jamaica with up to 40 inches of rain. The arrival of its core has been delayed by stalling.

Jamaica is bracing for what the National Hurricane Center said would be catastrophic flash flooding and landslides caused by up to 40 inches of rain.

Melissa is forecast to reach Category 5 with landfall by Tuesday, and could be the strongest storm to hit Jamaica on record.