Tens of thousands of Jamaicans were in shelters, and more than two-thirds of the island was still without power, according to officials.

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

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.

A tourist visiting Jamaica described the record-breaking Hurriane Melissa as "a freight train with a jet engine."

At least 19 people died as a result from Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica, the country's information minister told Reuters, bringing the total confirmed death toll from the storm to at least 44.

A Jamaican woman living in the UK said "there's lots to give thanks for" after an anxious wait to hear from family in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa. At least five people have been confirmed dead on the island following the category five storm this week. At least another 20 died during flooding in Haiti.

A local government staffer from Chicago’s south suburbs is stranded in Jamaica without the medication keeping her transplanted kidney functioning.

Samaritan's Purse sent its first relief airlift to Jamaica on Thursday in the aftermath of the disastrous Hurricane Melissa, which hit Jamaica and other Caribbean nations this week. (Courtesy of Samar